Natural Selection
by B1ackwolf
Summary: Jaune is pretty well liked with the Faunus population in Beacon Academy. That's nice and everything but it won't help him when the White Fang make their move. Knowing that they won't be able to properly prepare their leader, Jaune's team asks Team RWBY to help train him to fight the White Fang. After some deliberation, Blake decides to help the poor knight improve his skills.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Natural Selection

"Ouch." Jaune groaned as he rotated his shoulder on the way to lunch.

"Does it still hurt, Jaune?" Nora asked him in a rare display of seriousness.

"A bit. It's mostly just sore. I should be better in the morning." Jaune explained to her.

As a new way of improving teamwork, JNPR had decided to play with the idea of switching partners for the day. Everything had been going well enough that day as far as Jaune could tell. He and Nora woke up and ate breakfast with Ren and Pyrrha before the two pairs split up to do their own thing. Nora and Jaune had opted for combat training. Everything was going fine. Nora was holding back considerably as a kind gesture to Jaune, he got to try out a few new moves he had been wanting to test out, he worked up a good sweat. However there was one problem that had presented itself.

Ever since the incident where Jaune saved Cardin, the bully had become rather docile and a bit more respectful. This of course was a big relief to the Faunus of Beacon. Many were grateful to Jaune and even admired that he didn't seem to approve of the normal discrimination against Faunus. As a result many of the Faunus students backed up Jaune on almost everything. Some examples were offering to help tutor him in certain subjects that he didn't quite comprehend, reserving the last pudding cup for him at lunch, offering answers on tests, and even outright backing him up in class whenever Jaune answered a question (even if it was wrong). However this latest show of gratitude was Jaune's least favorite. Offering to help train him. He was more fragile than other Faunus and that made it difficult for them to hold back, which resulted in his sore shoulder. Jaune knew he could have just refused but he felt that it would be impolite.

"That's the last time I fight a bear Faunus." Jaune commented.

"Want me to turn him into a rug? We can set him next to our fireplace." Nora questioned her leader.

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Sure, Nora. It'd look really nice in jail."

They entered the cafeteria and took their places across from Team RWBY. Pyrrha and Ren were already waiting for them.

Weiss made a noise of disappointment. "Tch. Still in one piece." She grumbled before handing over a few lien to Blake who had her hand held out while reading a book. The black haired girl smirked as she pocketed her newly acquired currency.

Ren offered Jaune a deadpan expression. "Does it bother you that your life is worth only a few measly lien to your friends?"

Jaune shrugged. "I'm just glad someone bet in my favor."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Please. It's a bit difficult to make a bet when at least two different people don't bet on different outcomes."

Jaune smirked bitterly. So it seemed that Blake was more or less forced to bet on him since she and Weiss couldn't both bet on the same outcome. She drew the short end of the stick apparently.

After everybody got their food they began to speak about their normal things.

"Then fifteen White Fang members surrounded us." Nora began her tall tale.

"They were Faunus students from Beacon and there were three of them." Jaune corrected her.

"They cornered poor Jaune and told him 'Your Dust or your life!'"

"They asked if I wanted help training."

"Then Jaune activated his Semblance and sent them flying through a wall. They soared through the sky before disappearing with a small 'Dink'."

"Scratch what I said earlier. Yes, that's exactly what happened. I suffer from short term memory loss. I forgot what happened until she mentioned it."

Everyone else at the table wore a blank expression. Jaune sure changed his tone quickly once Jaune acted like a hero in Nora's story.

"Sorry for my youthful ignorance," Ruby began. "But doesn't that basically mean you killed them?"

Nora and Jaune both froze.

"Ah, well-"

"Arc! Don't ignore us!" A voice behind Jaune announced.

Jaune turned around just in time to see a black object approaching his face at a deadly velocity. Jaune ducked down as quickly as he could and felt the object tickle the hairs of his neck.

Nora whipped around to yell at the person who had almost beheaded Jaune. "Hey! You trying to kill some- Coco…" Nora stopped as soon as she saw the senior Huntress in training. Nora may be willing to jump into almost any fight but facing off against Coco Adel was a bad idea for almost anyone.

Coco glanced down at Nora over the bridge of her glasses.

"What did I do, Coco? Your handbag nearly took my head off." Jaune questioned, hoping he would survive this encounter. Each conversation with this girl felt like a Pocket Grimm game where he had to hope that he had the option to flee.

"Velvet's been calling your name for the past few minutes." Coco snarled, pointing to the bunny girl behind her in frustration. "Pay more attention." She scolded.

Jaune looked over at his friends who looked just as bewildered as he did. It looked like they were all so absorbed in Nora's story that they didn't hear or see Velvet.

"Sorry." Jaune apologized while looking at Velvet. "What did you need, Velvet?"

Velvet approached Jaune and held out a small jar of something to him. "It's a medicinal rub." She explained. "I saw that you hurt your shoulder and thought that this might help. Please use it."

"It doesn't really hurt all that much, Velvet." Jaune said. Behind Velvet, Coco lowered her glasses and shot Jaune a killing glare. "Ah, ah. Nevermind. It just flared up. I'll be sure to use it today." Jaune promised her as he broke out in a sweaty mess. He knew better than to do anything to bring on the wrath of Velvet's team.

"That's good. But if it still hurts in the morning you should get it checked out in the infirmary. Even a small injury can become serious if you aren't careful." Velvet began lecturing Jaune the same way his Mom or sisters would.

"Gotcha. I'll let you know how I'm doing in the morning." Jaune told Velvet, glancing over at Coco to see if his response was acceptable. Coco nodded to indicate that she did.

"Wonderful. Now we have to go. Professor Port has a mission he wants us to go on...again." Velvet said with a sigh.

"Good luck." Pyrrha told them.

"Break a leg." Nora said, waving goodbye.

"Bye. Take care." Ren told them.

"See ya later." Yang said with a yawn.

"Go get em!" Ruby cheered with enthusiasm.

Blake opted to silently wave while Weiss nodded as the pair left.

"Have fun." Jaune told them, waving to them.

Coco turned around at the last second and whispered in Jaune's ear.

"You are so lucky, Jaune." She whispered threateningly before catching up to Velvet.

Jaune continued to wave until the two had left the cafeteria before he let out a breath he had been holding.

"Wow. Survived." He said, while wiping away some sweat.

"What did she mean when she called you lucky?" Pyrrha asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Guess I answered responded to Velvet correctly." Jaune said, pocketing the small jar.

"You don't sound all that grateful." Weiss commented with a mocking tone. "A girl just came up to you and expressed concern for your well being. Poor girl probably doesn't realize that she's wasting her time."

Jaune nodded. "I agree. My shoulder is just going to heal with my aura anyway."

Poor Jaune didn't even realize that Weiss had subtly insulted him.

"I'm grateful for all of the attention from a bunch of the Faunus here. But I can't help but feel that the energy they spend wanting to help me is a bit...misdirected." Jaune explained as he rested his chin on his hand.

Everybody heard Blake's book close with a SNAP. She was staring directly at Jaune with a curious look. "How so, Jaune?"

Everybody was quiet. Blake was silent by nature and everybody assumed that she would naturally be annoyed with Jaune's usual antics. To everybody's knowledge the two had never had a one-on-one discussion before. To see Blake take an interest in some comment of Jaune's was rather unexpected.

"Well," Jaune said, rubbing the back of his head. He was having a hard time trying to put his passing thought into words. "Just because one person has no problem with Faunus doesn't mean that they should assume he is the only one on Remnant. I mean there has to be at least a few hundred humans in Remnant who have no problems with Faunus, right?"

"Not everybody stands by their beliefs." Blake began. "When put on the spot some humans go back on their beliefs that Faunus are equal so they aren't singled out by their fellow men as Faunus sympathizers."

"All I'm saying is that the energy the Faunus in Beacon are spending helping me out would be better spent elsewhere." Jaune explained. He and Blake seemed to have forgotten that their friends were around as they began to get absorbed in their serious conversation.

"Where then?" Blake asked, leaning forward and folding her hands. Many people could say that the Faunus could improve their own situation but those same people failed to provide examples of how.

"I'm not entirely sure." Jaune confessed.

Blake sighed. So in the end Jaune was the same? She couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed in him. She didn't think he was one for spouting lofty words with nothing to back them up.

"I guess if I had to give an example I would bring up the White Fang." Jaune said, causing Blake's eyebrows to shoot up and her teammates faces to become pale. "I mean they're a group of militant radicals who go around stealing Dust and stuff with that Torchwick guy. You four said so yourselves."

Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all exchanged glances to see if they should stop Jaune. After all Blake tended to get very defensive when someone thought that the White Fang had always been a terrorist group. It had been very peaceful when Blake was a child and she hated what it had become.

"But they weren't always like that, right?" Jaune asked, surprising Blake. "They used to have a real goal in mind. But now they seem like some kids who never knew someone who understands them."

Weiss spoke up to make sure she wasn't misunderstanding Jaune. "You would condone their actions?" She questioned.

"Not at all. What they need is someone who wouldn't condone their actions or someone to condemn them for their past mistakes. They need someone to stop them _because_ they understand why the Faunus do what they do." Jaune attempted to clarify his earlier statement.

"I'm a bit confused, Jaune." Nora confessed. She wasn't an idiot by any standards. She was actually quite intelligent. But she liked a very simple and straightforward approach to everything.

"Well, here's an example." Jaune said, pointing to Blake and Yang. "Yang, suppose Blake wanted to leave and rejoin the White Fang right now. What would you do?"

Yang donned a serious expression. "I'd stop her obviously."

"Exactly." Jaune said, satisfied with his explanation.

"So you think that all the White Fang need is a slap on the head and some understanding?" Blake asked, her eyes hidden by the shadow created by her bangs.

Jaune took a moment. He was actually making it all up as he went along. But he was convinced that what he was saying mirrored his true thoughts. "Yes."

Blake looked up with a small smile. "I see." She then opened her book again and began to read as an indication that their conversation was over.

It was later that night that Team RWBY was relaxing in their room. Blake was reading her book before Yang jumped into her bed.

"So you seemed to give up on that debate with Jaune pretty easily." She said with a quizzical look.

"It wasn't really a debate, Yang. It was just a friendly conversation." Blake replied as she turned another page.

"Most friends talk about the weather, clothes, homework, food, music, games, other friends, but the possibility of reforming the White Fang isn't typically one of them." Weiss said, jumping into their conversation as she brushed her hair on her bed.

"Although should any of us really be talking about what's typical for other people after all the stuff we've done this year?" Ruby asked. She was wrapped up in a blanket on her bed with a textbook in front of her.

Ruby did have a good point. With the contrasting personalities of their team it was no surprise how atypical they were as a whole. Normally these girls would be like water and oil.

"I think you all are just reading too much into it a simple talk." Blake waved dismissively.

"Blake, that wasn't just a talk. That was a test. I should know. My Father and sister do it all the time." Weiss shot back.

Blake thought for a moment. Was she subconsciously testing Jaune? It was possible. She had met too many humans who had preached about how wrong the current treatment of Faunus was but had changed their tune as soon as they were questioned by other humans. Team RWBY had obviously not let Blake down since they were willing to stand by her when they fought the White Fang but she never really thought that Jaune would be someone she would take seriously enough to test. She wasn't oblivious. She knew Team JNPR knew about her Faunus heritage but they hadn't mentioned it until Jaune specifically singled her out as an ex White Fang member today.

Blake shrugged. "Maybe so." She admitted.

It was at that moment that there was a knock on the door. The four girls exchanged looks. They weren't expecting anybody. Yang picked herself up from Blake's bed and answered the door.

"You guys? What's up?" Yang asked, letting Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren into their room.

"We realized something today." Ren admitted bluntly while Pyrrha looked nervous and Nora looked outright scared.

Team RWBY all tensed up. It wasn't like Jaune's teammates to seem so somber.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked first.

Ren glanced at Nora and Pyrrha, who both seemed intent on remaining silent, before continuing. "Well, you all know that Jaune isn't exactly the most 'elegant' of fighters." He said, trying to keep some of his absent friend's pride intact. "We also know that you've had quite a few run-ins with the White Fang. But instead of calming down they seem to be growing more active."

It was true. White Fang attacks were at an all time high. Dust prices had shot up by about 150%, and they were behind the Breach.

"More than a few." Yang scoffed.

"Exactly." Ren said. "And given the fact that you four are a magnet for bad luck, it isn't odd to think that eventually you would run into them again. But there is also the possibility that we may be close to you when it happens and will likely get caught up in it. There lies the problem."

Ruby began to grow teary eyed as she began to draw her own conclusion. "So you don't wanna be friends anymore? You don't like us?"

Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren all had panicked expressions and glanced at Yang to make sure she wasn't going to kill them as Ruby began to sniffle. Weiss sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"No, you twit! They just said it's about Jaune." Weiss said, handing Ruby a handkerchief with the SDC logo on it.

"So we're still friends?" Ruby asked with one more puppy dog look at the members of her sister team.

"Of course, Ruby. We aren't going anywhere." Pyrrha assured her.

Ruby smirked and handed Weiss her handkerchief back with a "Heehee". Her expression turned back to normal in an instant.

 _Crocodile tears..._ Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren thought all at once.

"So what is it about Jaune?" Blake chose to ask.

"If we run into the White Fang around you then Jaune will obviously choose to help you. It's frustrating, but nobody will be able to change his mind when that happens." Ren continued as he and his other two teammates adopted pained expressions. "And when it does happen he will die."

The air froze. Ren said it with such finality that they almost believed Jaune was dead at that very moment.

Weiss, being immune to the frozen atmosphere because of her title as the Ice Queen, spoke up. "This is obviously something you three have...discussed."

The three nodded. Pyrrha, for the first time, chose to speak. "I've been training with him lately at night on the rooftop to help him get better in tournament style matches. It's easy to fight people when you are protected by the rules of you lose and Grimm fight on instinct. But in the real world where there is real danger he may not make it." Pyrrha began anxiously picking at her fingernails.

Yang nodded and crossed her arms while leaning against a wall. "I get what you mean now. Jaune isn't ready to fight the White Fang."

There was a silent agreement in the room. Jaune's team, Ruby, Yang, and surprisingly even Weiss had begun to have hopes for Jaune. Not high hopes but hope all the same.

Blake was biting her lip. When the White Fang had begun operating more like a military, they broke new recruits who were like Jaune pretty early and then rebuilt them as hardened warriors. That wouldn't happen at Beacon. The school was a bit too protective of their students in comparison.

"That's why we want your help. We want you to help train Jaune." Nora announced seriously.

Team RWBY all looked at Nora incredulously. They were being asked to train Jaune? That was such a-

"Great idea!" Ruby said, jumping down from her bunk.

"No, it's a horrible idea." Weiss shot the request down. She directed her gaze at Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. "Why us of all people? Why don't you do it? Or better yet have him receive extra lessons from Port or Oobleck?"

Pyrrha looked at Ren and Nora before responding. "As good as those two are in a real fight, do you really think they would do well in combat training. Have you ever wondered why it's Goodwitch and not them teaching our Sparring class?" Team RWBY had never really asked themselves that question "And we can't train Jaune to fight the White Fang because we've never fought them ourselves."

"How can we be expected to teach him to fight an opponent we have never fought ourselves?" Ren asked.

"So the three of us are gonna be training with each other." Nora finished.

"So you're foisting the responsibility on us?" Weiss asked haughtily.

Ren flinched. "Believe me, we don't like asking this of you. If there was another way to help Jaune we wouldn't hesitate to take it."

"Don't worry! We'll train Jaune!" Ruby declared.

"I don't think so!" Yang and Weiss said in sync, startling everybody else in the room.

In a rare occasion, Yang and Weiss were agreeing with each other.

"Sorry, Ruby, but I'm playing the big sister card. You can't train Jaune. You're too young to be teaching him how to fight, and I don't think he'd take it very well if a fifteen year old girl told him he can't fight."

"Well I'm playing the vice leader card. As the leader of the Team you don't have time to be playing around. You need to keep training yourself. You may have gotten into Beacon early but you have to work to show that you deserve it."

Ruby cringed at the tag team duo that was her sister and her partner. Weiss and Yang shared a nod of approval with each other.

Jaune's teammates turned their eyes to Weiss. "Oh no. Don't look at me! There is no chance in Remnant of me teaching Jaune Arc. Not even a candle's chance in a cyclone! I realize that he is your friend and that you are worried but this is something I believe he must do on his own if he is to grow."

Nora opened her mouth to speak before Ren placed a hand on her shoulder to silence her. He and Pyrrha nodded in understanding. They weren't really expecting much from Weiss.

Yang stepped forward and cracked her knuckles with a grin. "Well, looks like I have no choice. I'll train Jaune to fight."

"NO!" Pyrrha and Nora said at the exact same time.

Yang blinked in a stupefied manner before looking offended. "Why not?"

"You'll beat him to a pulp on the first day of training him." Nora insisted.

"Would not!" Yang said, sounding like a child.

"He threw up on your shoes." Pyrrha said with a deadpan expression.

"On second thought," Ren said with a raised hand. "I don't think that you training him would be wise either." He was no fool. He knew how long woman could hold grudges.

That just meant that there was only one person left. Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren knew the hard part would be convinci-

"I'll do it." Blake announced much to everyone's surprise.

"You will!" Pyrrha asked with an elated smile.

"That was easy." Nora said with a sigh as she wiped imaginary sweat from her forehead.

"What's the catch?" Ren asked her skeptically.

"No catch." Blake said with a smirk. She had almost forgotten how amusing Team JNPR could be in the midst of all the serious discussion.

"Blake," Yang interrupted. "Are you sure?"

Blake stood up. Then, as if she were in a trance, began to remove her bow. Her cat ears twitched as they were allowed to breath at last. Blake smirked dangerously as her amber eyes seemed to glow ominously. "Who better to teach him how to fight the White Fang than the girl who was one of the White Fang?"


	2. Chapter 2: Forced Evolution

**Well people seemed to like the first chapter or were at least intrigued by it, so I went ahead and wrote Chapter 2. I uploaded the first Chapter on a whim and was pleased with how it turned out. If you're back after reading Chapter 1 there are a few things I want to address that you may or may not have been wondering. The first is when the story takes place. It is obviously sometime after the Cardin incident but I have yet to completely clarify when. The story takes place between Volume 2 and Volume 3. I would like to eventually step into the time frame of Volume 3 but for now I think I'll choose to hold off on that since there is obviously some time between the end of Volume 2 and the start of Volume 3, which makes it an ideal time to start my story. Second, if you are expecting Nora to be a leg breaking, sloth obsessed, sap guzzling, hammer wielding nightmare then you may not enjoy this story. That's not to say that she won't be as "energetic" or as lovable as she is in canon, but I feel like there is more to her personality than that. Did you see her reactions to the alarms in Volume 2? Did you hear how she has no parents and nowhere to go to in Volume 3? I feel like there's some really serious stuff going on behind her smiling face but that this website has made her a very one dimensional and bland character. I hope we get some more backstory for her and Ren in Volume 3. Third is my goal with this story. I want to create a convincing and interesting story that follows the current canon as closely as possible. As a result, I may not be stepping foot in the realm of Volume 3 yet.**

 **Anyway, please enjoy. (:**

Chapter 2: Forced Evolution

"Nora, I won't say it again. That cloud you saw from our dorm window wasn't shaped like Port's mustache. It was obviously Ruby' scythe." Jaune said with an exasperated tone as he and and his Team went to breakfast.

"Since when was his mustache shaped like the blade of a scythe, Genius Leader of mine?" Nora asked while standing on her toes to try and match Jaune's height.

"It doesn't!" Jaune raised his voice as if it would make his point work its way into Nora's stubborn brain. "That's why you're wrong!"

"Semantics." Nora proclaimed before skipping ahead of her Team, leaving Jaune to stand with his mouth open in shock.

Ren and Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulders in a show of support. "Good try, Jaune." Ren congratulated his leader. "You lasted longer than most."

"I don't know if that's something to be proud of." Jaune said as he hung his head. He proceeded forward with his friends and grabbed their breakfast trays before sitting in their spots across from Team RWBY.

"Goooood morning, Jaune!" Ruby greeted her fellow leader in her usual chipper tone of voice. How she always seemed so upbeat in the morning was a mystery.

"Is it really a good morning? I have a feeling that I'm in for another loooong day." Jaune proclaimed as he smeared a bit of honey on a biscuit.

A few seconds of silence passed before Yang spoke up as she peeled an orange. "Yeesh. Rough day already, Jauney?"

Jaune glanced at Nora for a split second before returning his gaze to Yang. "Not really. Just questioning the choices I've made in my life that got me to this point."

Dealing with Nora, especially in the mornings could be quite exhausting for any human being or Faunus. It was no wonder Ren came across as tired or sickly to most people. Jaune had to respect him for being able to keep up with Nora for as long as he had. Not that Jaune had anything against Nora, but he just felt like he couldn't understand her sometimes. She was really sweet in her own way but he just wished that she would wait until after first period to argue about the shape of a cloud.

"Using fake transcripts to get into Beacon certainly seems like one of the many causes for your current position." Weiss mumbled as she wiped the corner of her mouth.

"Sorry Weiss. What was that?" Jaune asked. He looked up just in time to see her body jerk and pained expression flicker across her face before she smiled politely at Jaune.

"I didn't say anything. Maybe you're just hearing things." She said sweetly. Jaune shrugged and turned his gaze back to his breakfast. Weiss sent a glare at Pyrrha who had kicked her under the table. Pyrrha had told Team RWBY about Jaune's transcripts in a similar way that Weiss had told Team JNPR about Blake being a Faunus. Pyrrha had done it because she felt that Team RWBY had a right to know about Jaune's circumstances because they were all friends. However Jaune had no idea this had occurred. Team RWBY had strict instructions from Pyrrha to not mention it in front of Jaune. She said that he would tell them when he felt that it was time for them to know the truth.

Weiss mentally scolded herself. Not only had she almost let it slip that Team RWBY knew about Jaune's situation, but she had instinctively responded the way she was used to responding to Jaune. It was no wonder people called her "Ice Queen". Of course, she was quite appalled when Pyrrha told her about Jaune's transcripts and felt that her hunch about Jaune not belonging at Beacon was right all along. She did have plans to confront the Headmaster about Jaune's entrance but something had stopped her. Neptune's comment to her about Jaune being a "good friend" who was watching out for her had caused her to hesitate. Jaune, the complete moron, had pushed his nose into her business and made Neptune talk to Weiss about his own insecurities. She remembered looking at him after Neptune had proclaimed that Jaune was "a pretty cool dude". She then made a promise to herself. She would try to be friends with Jaune, the person who Neptune seemed to hold in such high esteem, and she would not say anything about Jaune's transcripts. After all if he was able to eventually become as skilled as his transcripts claimed, then it wasn't a total lie. Right?

"Anyway, Jaune," Pyrrha said, turning to her leader. "I had something I needed to talk to you about."

"What is it, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, more focused on eating than listening.

"Well lately I've been thinking that you need to be trained by someone other than me for awhile." She said, trying to sound like she wasn't putting down Jaune.

Jaune froze of course. It was finally happening. Pyrrha realized that Jaune was just dragging her down. She didn't want to train him anymore.

"I can already tell where your head's at." Pyrrha pulled him out of his thoughts by adopting her tone of voice she reserved to scold him. "And I can tell you that's not it, Jaune."

"Then what is it?" He asked, worried that the real answer may be even worse than what he was imagining.

"I'm afraid that I may be getting tunnel vision when I'm training you, Jaune." Pyrrha explained to him in a soothing and gentle tone to lay his fears to rest.

A question mark could practically be seen over his head. "Tunnel vision?" He asked in a bewildered tone before his eyes widened in understanding and the question mark disappeared with a POOF. "How about getting glasses? No, wait. They would just get in the way when you fight… How about contacts? Or have you looked into getting laser eye surgery? They say like 1 in every 1,500 people don't see results. Actually that number is probably a lot smaller now. I read an article that said that like four years ago. It might-" Jaune's rambling was cut off by the giggling of Pyrrha, Ruby, and Yang.

"No, Jaune. _Tunnel vision._ " Ruby breathed out. "Do you know what that is?"

Jaune crossed his arms at his friend's amused expressions. "It's still early in the morning. Cut me some slack."

Weiss shook her head and began explaining to Jaune with a finger raised like a teacher. "Tunnel vision basically means that one has limited focus. Have you ever been looking for something that you thought was lost and then after hours of searching someone else just waltzes right in and finds what you were looking for in thirty seconds?"

Ugh. Jaune hated it when that happened. It bothered him so much when that would happen to him as a kid.

"Yeah, it has happened before. But I still don't get what Pyrrha is having trouble finding." Jaune confessed which caused Weiss to sigh in frustration and pinch the bridge of her nose.

"Ways to help you improve, Jaune." Ren spoke up as he finished the last bite of his toast. "Pyrrha's been teaching so long that she has lost sight of what you need to work on. Has it felt like you're in a rut when it comes to your training sessions?"

Now that Jaune thought about it, his sessions had begun to seem a bit more bland than when they first began. Pyrrha would correct Jaune's stance, he would charge, they would exchange a few blows, Jaune would see a chance at his first victory, he would go for it and then end up on his back. Repeat.

Jaune nodded at Ren's question. He understood now what his friends meant by tunnel vision.

"So that's why I asked for you to be taught by someone else for a few weeks." Pyrrha announced to him the same way a friend told another that they had got them a surprise present.

"Who?" Jaune asked. He couldn't help but feel some excitement at the idea of training sessions with someone new.

Maybe it would be that Mercury guy. He and Pyrrha seemed like they would get along. Maybe Pyrrha asked him to help train Jaune. Or maybe it was Yatsuhashi. The giant sword wielding powerhouse of Team CVFY. Surely he'd have a few new tricks to teach Jaune. Jaune just hoped he knew how to hold back. Or maybe it would be one of the more experienced members of one of the other schools that were arriving for the Vytal Festival. They'd surely be able to teach-

All of Jaune's friends directed their gaze to Blake, who at the moment was just staring off into space as if she were daydreaming. Blake took notice of their silence and looked over at them. She had only been half listening to their conversation but she knew why they were all looking at her knowingly and Jaune looked thunderstruck.

Her face expressionless as she grabbed a slice of apple and waved at Jaune. "Hello again." She said, using Pyrrha's signature phrase.

Port's class was actually quite enjoyable despite all of the stories he told at the beginning of the year. That was just his way of trying to connect with his students. But seeing as how very few of them were impressed by his tales, he began to actually give them useful information in the form of lectures and not stories. Although he would tell a short story to reinforce a particular point that he wanted to make. This change in teaching actually made him more well liked because he was actually a very good teacher.

"Remember children," He said, underlining what he had written on the board at the front of the classroom. "The belief that an Ursa won't be able to notice you if you stay as still as possible is a myth. They will attack you whether you are moving or frozen solid. If you encounter an Ursa and are in no shape to fight, turn and run. Keep in mind that you could potentially be surrounded by several Ursa if you simply run without paying attention to your surroundings."

Several students nodded and the sound of pencil scratchings on paper could be heard. Whenever Port underlined something they could be certain that it would be on their next test.

On this particular day Pyrrha, Weiss, Blake, and Nora sat towards the back while Jaune, Ren, Ruby, and Yang were one row in front of them. Pyrrha couldn't help but feel a bit vexed with Jaune at the moment. Since when did he feel like their training sessions were falling into a rut?

"I still think that this is a horrible idea." Weiss whispered ever so quietly into Pyrrha's ear.

"What is?" She asked Weiss, raising her textbook so that the two could use it as cover for their conversation.

"You passing off Jaune's training to someone else." Weiss replied to Pyrrha's question.

"You seemed to back it up rather easily during breakfast." Pyrrha shot back much to Weiss' annoyance. "Besides I really believe that this could be good for him. Not just for him. For Ren, Nora, and I too. If the four of us don't improve somehow then we'll just end up dragging you down if we run into the White Fang together."

Weiss shook her head. "You're coddling him."

"How?" Pyrrha asked, feeling affronted by Weiss' statement.

"How do you expect him to improve if you are always working behind the scenes to help him? You need to let him realize he needs to improve on his own."

"Weiss, isn't that just a little bit unfair." Pyrrha couldn't help but question the behavior of the heiress.

"No." Weiss said, withdrawing from behind the book to signal that she had nothing more to say.

"Now, who can tell me which creature of Grimm has the densest bones and which have the most fragile ones?" Port posed a question to the class. He gazed around the classroom, seeing some of the more familiar faces raise their hands, such as Weiss and Pyrrha, but he was surprised when Yang's hand shot up.

"Ms. Xiao Long, care to take a swing at the question?" He asked to make sure she was certain. Yang didn't actively participate in class during most lectures. She did make somewhat decent grades but she didn't seem to want to answer questions during class.

"An adult Ursa has the densest bones, right?" She answered, unsure if she was right.

"Correct!" Port bellowed, startling most of his students but causing Yang to beam with pride. "An adult Ursa does indeed have the toughest bone structure. Not only are their bones thicker than most human arms but they are tougher than rock. Now how about the Grimm with the most fragile bones?" Port asked Yang.

This time Yang seemed more sure of herself. "The Nevermore, right?"

"Splendid! Can you explain why?" Port asked in hopes that he could get Yang to elaborate on her answer.

Yang paled when she heard the question. "Uh...I think it's because…" She trailed off as her mind drew a blank.

"Need to phone a friend?" Port asked her kindly. He felt proud that Yang had been paying enough attention in class to tell him that much. It was a big step forward in comparison to the beginning of the year.

Yang nodded and looked around the lecture hall only to see her sister Ruby raising her hand to help her big sis out.

"Ms. Rose, care to lend a hand?"

Ruby put down her hand and nodded. She had read the chapter they were covering right now in her room last night before Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren dropped by her Team's dorm. "Nevermore are a lot like normal birds. Their bones are hollow just like normal ones. If they weren't then they couldn't fly. They also aren't as tough as the bones of an Ursa."

"Magnificent." Port boomed. "You are both correct. The creatures of Grimm share several similarities with regular animals when it comes to their anatomy."

The sisters gave each other a triumphant high five. The bell rung at that moment, signaling the end of class. The students began to pack up their books and notebooks before heading for the door.

"Be sure to study the chapter concerning the different species of Grimm found in Vacuo. We will be discussing it after the test next class." Port informed them before anybody could leave.

Blake was thinking to herself as she sat off to the side of one of the many practice arenas that Beacon had. Most might think she looked a bit creepy just sitting and looking at a spot on the floor and doing nothing else at all. However her mind was racing. She had offered to train Jaune last night after Jaune's Team had asked her Team to. But she may have hit her first obstacle when it came to training Jaune.

How do you train somebody? She had honestly never really done so before. She was never in charge of training the new recruits when she was in the White Fang. That was always left to other members who had some sort of military experience. Sure, she had seen some drills being run sometimes but had never really observed nor had she listened to what was said during those drills. As for herself, she had learned to fight and fend for herself on the fly, so she had never needed to really do the sort of training that all recruits went through now.

Maybe if she tried acting like what she thought a combat teacher would be like she would do just fine. Besides she didn't even know how Jaune fought. Actually, that might not be such a bad idea. Just a light spar on the first day to see what she needs to focus on with him. Speaking of which, where was Jaune?

She had told him after breakfast to meet her once classes were done for the day. She checked her scroll. It was only 4:10. He wasn't late or anything, she was just early. She heard the door of the stadium open up and saw Jaune walk in, wearing his armor and hoodie with Crocea Mors at his waist.

"Am I late?" He asked.

"Nope. A bit early. But that's good. We can get started right away." She said, standing and stretching. "I thought that a light spar would be just fine for our first day of training."

Jaune backed up a bit. "You aren't going to use your shadow clones on me, are you?" He asked suspiciously.

Blake smirked. "Don't tempt me. I just might." She warned him. It was funny seeing him gulp before he put on a brave face.

"I'm sure I can handle it. Well, what are we waiting for?" He asked stepping into the combat arena. Or at least he would have if Blake didn't grab his hood and yank him backwards.

"Hold it for a second." Blake told Jaune, letting go of his hood. Jaune rubbed his neck where the fabric had bitten into his skin and gave Blake a questioning look. "Jaune, do you consider me to be your friend?" She asked with a serious expression.

"Umm.." Jaune didn't know what to say really. He felt like this was some sort of test. "I think so?" His reply was more of a question than it was an actual answer.

Blake narrowed her eyes. "It's a 'yes or no' question, Jaune." There was no room in her expression for compromises or 'I think so'.

"Yes." Jaune answered quickly and with a panicked expression, hoping he answered correctly.

Blake tilted her head and studied his face for a moment before responding. "Not here." Blake told him.

"What?" Jaune asked.

"Not when we are training. When we step into the arena, I want you to cast it away." Blake repeated and elaborated. "We need to be a teacher and a student. Not two friends playing around, ok?"

Jaune understood what she was saying. They weren't here to hang out. They weren't here to have a good time. Blake was taking the time out of her day to teach Jaune. He nodded at her question. He supposed it was the least he could do to show he was serious.

"That means you do everything I say." Blake continued now that Jaune had pretty much signed the user agreement. "If I say 'Jump', then you jump and don't come back down until I say so."

"Soooo," Jaune began, raising an eyebrow while hoping that he wasn't already making her mad. "You want me to break the law of gravity?"

Blake kept her straight and emotionless face while answering. "If I tell you to do it." She clarified.

Jaune felt like he was being put in a very difficult position. "Ok. I guess I can try." He murmured, rubbing the back of his head.

"Another thing," Blake spoke while walking into the arena and drawing Gambol Shroud. "You don't try. You keep on going until you succeed." She whirled around and pointed the blade of her weapon at Jaune.

Jaune had never been so nervous before. Sending in his fake transcripts was like a Zen garden in comparison to this. But he had no choice. He had to get better while Pyrrha wasn't training him. He wished he could say that he was able to stand on equal footing with his peers but the sad truth was the he could not. He simply didn't have the training. His Team and Team RWBY all stood above him, even sweet little Ruby Rose who was two whole years younger than him. He didn't like the idea of being friends with such incredible people and not doing something to improve himself so that he didn't drag them down. If there was one thing that Jaune wanted, it was to be a hero. But if he could choose a second thing he would want to be able to look his friends in the eyes and stand with them, knowing that they were equals.

Jaune smiled shakily and drew his sword. Being a leader and being seventeen weren't easy by a longshot. Honestly. Teenagers shouldn't be having such complicated thoughts in their head.

He advanced forward until his feet touched the floor of the arena and continued walking until he was a bit closer to Blake. His shield expanded outward and his held his sword at his side while bending his knees.

"Wrong." Blake said while shaking her head. She lowered Gambol Shroud and got closer to Jaune. "Your legs are too far apart." She told him, tapping his back leg lightly with her foot. "When you start a fight, you should have your legs slightly wider apart than your shoulders. Only widen your stance if you go in for some big slash, you'll need the balance for it." Jaune was used to his stance being corrected by Pyrrha, but not in this way. But he complied with his new trainer and fixed his stance. "And you're gripping your sword too tight. It's making you too tense. Loosen your grip." She ordered while tapping on Jaune's sword hand. "Make it tight enough so that it feels like you're giving a firm handshake."

Again Jaune did as he was ordered and loosened his grip. Blake walked back in front of him and observed his posture again. She grabbed his shield and made him hold his shield away from his body more.

"How does this help?" He asked as she pulled his shield further away from his body.

Blake looked into his face for an instant before she pushed his shield back at him, aiming for his face. Jaune flinched away as he saw his own shield come at his face. Blake stopped just short of his face.

"If someone gets close to you and manages to grab your shield, you're in for a nasty hit. You don't want to be on the receiving end of a shield bash." She explained. Jaune nodded frantically. "If your shield is slightly further away it gives you time to brace your arm and stop it."

Satisfied with his stance, Blake backed away to where she originally stood. Jaune seemed to be a bit more relaxed now. He was already looking for any holes in her defense. Good. She hoped he at least had the sense to do that much. The two stared at each other for several seconds. Finally Jaune initiated the fight with an overhead slash. Blake easily stepped to the side and lightly punched his side.

"You project your movements too much. While ending the fight in one hit is good, you won't be able to do that with me." She half mocked him.

Jaune spun around and stared at Blake again. "Jaune, if you are unsure about what to do next you should always return to your stance." She was pleased to see him go back to his original stance at once. Blake figured it was time she went on the offensive. She dashed forward and almost at once attacked Jaune's torso. He blocked with his shield and then blocked with his sword as Blake spun around and attacked the other side of his torso. She was just getting a feel for him at the moment. He had a solid idea of how to defend himself, she would give him that much. If she wanted to she could easily slip past it. But this spar wasn't meant to crush his self confidence. It was to tell him what she expected him to do in their fights from now on. Blake then saw a problem with how Jaune fought. She ducked low and sweep kicked Jaune's feet out from under him. He fell on his back and gasped as the air was pushed from his lungs.

"You stay too still, Jaune. Keep your feet moving. Footwork is important." She reprimanded him for his lack of mobility.

Jaune picked himself up. "Pyrrha said the exact same thing before. But it's hard. I kind of lock up when I fight."

Blake put her hand on her chin. "All right. We'll work on that on another day. Let's try again."

"Wait." Jaune told her. "Aren't you gonna use that gun?" He knew Gambol Shroud had a firearm mode.

Blake, who had her face turned away smirked and mecha-shifted Gambol Shroud into its handgun form. She whirled around and aimed the gun at Jaune. He heard the shifting of the different mechanisms in the weapon before he saw it and reacted on instinct. As Blake whirled to face him, he slashed with his sword and barely managed to knock the gun barrel away from his face. Sparks flew as their weapons met in the air but Jaune was able to push Blake's arm away. She jumped backwards before he was able to slash at her. "Still want me to try shooting at you?" She asked with a hint of amusement in her voice. Jaune shook his head quickly. "Good. Now let's try again." She told him, mecha-shifting her weapon back to a blade. This time Jaune didn't charge at her, instead he advanced a bit more slowly and didn't go straight for a big finishing move. He tried a thrust, hoping to catch Blake off guard. Luck was not on his side as she sidestepped out of the way and tried to lightly hit his unguarded side much like she did last time. But Jaune realized what she was doing and managed to twist his body out of the way and regained his footing. That was close! He had felt her fist graze the fabric of his hoodie.

"Better. You realized you needed to move out of the way. But I hope you don't think that I'll go easy on you." She said before she threw Gambol Shroud's blade at him. The ribbon that allowed her to control it in midair unfurled as it sailed at Jaune, who was caught unprepared for the sudden attack. He managed to raise his shield just in time before the weapon slashed his face. With a flick of her wrist Blake brought her weapon back to her hand and she advanced toward Jaune. Using Gambol Shroud required a certain finesse that she had honed over the years. The ribbon wrapped around Jaune's legs as she ran forward. Realization dawned in his eyes as he felt the ribbon trap him. With a tug, Blake sent him sprawling on his back. Jaune groaned and opened his eyes to see Gambol Shroud pointed right at him.

Jaune gulped. "I guess I can't complain about that being unfair?" He asked with and embarrassing squeak in his voice.

Blake rolled her eyes. "Most people won't give you the chance." She told him and unwrapped his legs. "C'mon. One more time."

"But I thought we'd get to do more on our first day of training." Jaune said with a hint of dismay in his voice.

Blake shook her head. "Nope. It's only the first day. You don't need to try so hard. Besides, the real work will start tomorrow." She promised him, looking back to see his reaction. He gulped and he began sweating more than he already was. "Anyway, one more time, Jaune."

They both readied themselves again. Blake noticed that Jaune seemed more calm and composed this time around. Seemed like he had finally warmed up. Blake didn't even wait for him to charge this time. She threw Gambol Shroud at him, using the inertia from the shot that it fired behind her to propel it forward. Jaune was more prepared this time and raised his shield before it reached him. Blake rushed forward while Jaune still had his shield up. "Don't look away, Jaune!" She shouted before jumping in the air. She was going to drop down on him and deliver a slash at him to end their bout. Her plan was shattered when Jaune lowered his shield was already looking up at her. Blake's eyes widened. Had he seen through her movements? No way. Jaune ducked as Blake tried to hit his head with the flat of her blade. Once she missed, Jaune stabbed at her in midair. For an instant, Jaune was elated that he had managed to hit Blake. Then he became horrified as he realized that he had actually stabbed at her... _with a real weapon_. Finally he became bewildered as Blake melted into shadow, leaving Jaune to hold his sword in the air with absolutely no evidence of having hit Blake. As the last bit of shadow dissipated, the real Blake emerged and sent a spinning kick to Jaune's face. He tried to block her but only received another kick to the face as she spun in the air a second time and kicked him in the face again.

Jaune fell to the floor, clutching his cheek. Spots danced across his field of vision as he tried to look for Blake.

"Jaune, are you ok?" Blake appeared by his side and asked in a hurried tone as she leaned down to look at him.

"Yeah. I'm fine, Blake. See?" He tried to smile but grimaced in pain as his cheek flared up in pain.

"Sorry." She apologized sincerely. "You just really surprised me at the end there. I kind of reacted on instinct." She felt bad seeing him clutching at his already swelling face.

"I surprised you? Guess that's one victory for me." Jaune said, trying to sound lighthearted.

Blake couldn't help but feel curious about something. "How did you know I'd jump and try to hit you from the air?"

Jaune sat up and winced as he began speaking. "It seemed like the sort of thing you'd do. When I wasn't looking, I thought that attacking from above seemed like you style. I just had to hope you wouldn't go with the leg tying trick again."

Blake shook her head. If she was that transparent then she also needed more training. She held her hand out to Jaune who was surprised with the ease that she lifted him to his feet. "I know I've said this before but I'm sorry." She apologized again.

Jaune tried to give her a good natured smile. "I guess it's my own fault, huh? Now I know not to upset you ever." He joked.

Blake sighed and gave him the faintest of grins. "Let's go get you some ice to stop the swelling." She said, turning away and walking to the exit of the combat arena.

"Blake." Jaune calling her name caused her to stop. She turned to see his face set in an abnormally serious face.

"Yes, Jaune?" Curious about what he wanted to say.

"My jaw is clicking. Did it used to click?" He asked while opening and closing his mouth.


	3. Chapter 3:

**Hey, I wanted to upload this chapter yesterday but my sister's birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year so I had quite a bit to do yesterday. I also had to put up my Christmas tree with my family. I really hate putting it up and taking it down even though I love Christmas. Anyway, I probably won't upload the next chapter until Monday because I've got some homework to take care of and I'd also like to work ahead a bit. If I get it taken care of beforehand I'll probably upload another chapter before Monday.**

 **Now in the story you will see a reference to the movie** ** _Drag Me To Hell_** **. I realize it isn't a book to movie adaptation but it's the first thing that popped into my head since I had recently talked about it with a friend, so don't freak out about it.**

 **But that doesn't matter right now. Enjoy the story.**

"Don't mess with your cheek anymore, Jaune. It's already swelling and is probably very sensitive." Blake scolded Jaune, who was poking at his own cheek and wincing while opening and closing his mouth.

"It's already clicking. Might as well." Jaune reasoned. Honestly he was surprised that the swelling had gone down as much as it had. Thank goodness for aura.

"That'll heal itself too. Now stop poking at it." She told him again, resisting the urge to slap his hand away from his own face. Honestly, dealing with Jaune left her feeling like she was dealing with Sun. Both seemed to be unable to listen to her.

"Blake!"

Speak of the devil...Sun came jogging up to her and Jaune but the smile on his face faltered when he saw Jaune nursing his swollen cheek with a bag of ice.

"Woah! Dude, what happened to you? You look like you got hit by a truck." Sun stopped in front of them and leaned forward more to examine Jaune's wound more closely.

"Don't worry.." Jaune waved away the monkey Faunus' concern and then pointed at Blake. "I got the license plate of the one that hit me."

Sun faltered, looking between Jaune and Blake, who looked uninterested. "I can't help but feel like you deserve it now." He said, rubbing the back of his head in an effort to cover up a possible slip up.

"Gee. Thanks for that, Sun." Jaune said, remembering his name from when they met before.

Sun froze. He had only met Jaune and his team briefly the other day and as a result he had forgotten what Jaune's name was. He felt a bit bad that Jaune knew his name but not the other way around.

"So what did you need, Sun?" Blake asked finally.

"Oh, yeah." Sun said while hitting the palm of his hand with a fist. "I was wondering what you were up to at the moment… Actually," Sun looked between Jaune and Blake again. "What were you up to?"

"Training. Jaune needed some help training because his usual sparring partner thinks he could benefit from a different teacher." Blake answered simply, walking past both boys and leaving them to follow her as the walked through the courtyard and past the statue at the front of the Academy. The sun was starting to set which cast an orange light across the school.

"So I guess Jaune just barely lost?" Sun asked, making sure to memorize his fellow blonde's name while making a subtle jab at him to try and be friendly.

"You could say that." Jaune replied back with a good natured tone. "Next time is a different story. I just might be able to get her next time."

Little did the three know that they were all thinking the same thing.

' _Yeah, right.'_

"Why were you wondering what I was doing, Sun?" Blake asked him to try and take some attention away from Jaune's injury.

"Weeeell," Sun said, jogging forward a bit and turning around to look at Blake while walking backwards. "That book you were reading the other day… _Drag Me To Haven_ , right? Did you know they adapted it into a movie?"

Jaune faltered in his steps a bit as he realized what felt off just now. He felt like the dreaded _third wheel_ … He needed to get out of here.

"I'll go on ahead." He told them. He quickened his pace so that he overtook both of them and headed to his dorm. "It was good seeing you again, Sun. Thanks for the help with training, Blake. I'll see you later."

Sun waved as Jaune's figure slowly disappeared from sight. He turned to Blake, who was looking at where Jaune had been a moment before with a puzzled look on her face.

' _We were heading to the same place since our dorms are across from each other. Did he forget that we would have to walk together anyway?'_ She thought to herself while raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe he's just tired from training." Sun said aloud to himself. He shrugged his shoulders and turned to Blake again. "Anyway, _Drag Me To Haven_ got adapted into a movie and I heard it was pretty good. Wanna go see it?" Sun extended his invitation, hoping for a "yes".

A look of genuine disgust crossed Blake's face. "A book to movie adaptation? Really?"

"What's wrong with book to movie adaptations?" Sun asked, bewildered and a bit excited about seeing a new expression that he had seen on Blake's face, even if it carried a negative meaning.

"That is a whole can of worms that you really don't want to open, Sun." Blake admitted while rubbing her temples.

"As bad as the White Fang admission?" Sun asked. Blake shot his a scorching glare that made him put up his hands in defense. "Still too soon?" He actually flinched away.

"I'll think about it…" Blake told him. Sun's face seemed to brighten up considerably.

"Really?" He asked to make sure he wasn't dreaming or being messed with.

Blake rolled her eyes and smiled helplessly. She figured watching a movie with Sun couldn't be too terrible. After all, the two had attended a dance together which didn't turn out to be as bad as it could've been. "Yes, really. I'll think about it."

Blake continued her pace while Sun lagged behind. She pretended not to notice his drop in pace or his shadow that stretched in front of her that mimicked him jumping for joy and doing a flip before landing quietly and catching up to her.

Jaune walked at a more reasonable pace as soon as he had left the courtyard area. He really didn't want to be close to those two at the moment. After all, Sun had been hanging out with Neptune, who Jaune thought was pretty cool by almost all standards, despite the fact that he had turned down Weiss because he couldn't dance. He figured Sun must also be pretty cool as well since he and Neptune seemed to get along. Being around both of them felt a bit intimidating for Jaune, especially since he could easily see that Sun seemed to have his eyes on Blake. Jaune may have failed quite a few times at hitting on girls, but he could see another guy asking a girl out a mile away. Starting off by saying that a book Blake liked had been made into a movie seemed to be a painfully obvious way segueing into a date invitation. Jaune, being the "cool dude" that he was, felt like he should do the right thing and leave as soon as soon as he saw that date invitation coming. Besides nobody liked being the third wheel in any situation.

He opened the door of his dorm to see his team engaged in their respective pastimes. Ren was reading one of his books at the desk that they had in their dorm. Pyrrha was sitting on her bed with a laptop in front of her, replying to fan mail and endorsement offers. Nora had recently developed the habit of pushing the beds of Ren, Jaune, and herself together to form one giant bed that she would lounge on while playing on a handheld videogame with headphones on. She was wearing a white shirt that was a size too big for her and bright pink flannel pants.

"Jaune," Pyrrha noticed him first and set her laptop to the side. She had changed into her typical nightwear, a pair of bronze colored shorts with a red thermal sweater and had removed her headpiece. "How did it-" She stopped when she saw that Jaune's cheek that had almost healed completely but was still a bit red with some slight swelling. "What happened?" She asked, standing to examine his cheek.

"Blake happened. It's no biggie. I should've expected it since we were training." He told her in an effort to calm her down.

Ren approached Jaune and looked closely at his injured friend's cheek. "Does it hurt much?" He asked Jaune. He wore a dark green shirt and white sweatpants.

"A bit. It looked and felt a lot worse before. I'm just glad that my jaw stopped clicking." Jaune admitted.

Ren nodded before going to a drawer in the desk that contained some of Jaune's miscellaneous items and pulled out the jar that Jaune had received from Velvet. "Time to see how well this stuff works." Ren said before unscrewing the lid and dipping two fingers in the gel like substance and reaching towards Jaune's injured cheek.

"Hey, hold one, Ren." Jaune said, moving back to avoid Ren's hand. "I said it only hurts a bi-" Jaune abruptly stopped speaking as he felt Pyrrha behind him. She had come behind him and seized Jaune's arms and pinned them to his back, leaving him with no way to defend himself and no way to retreat. "Pyrrha! What are you doing?"

"Sorry, Jaune." Pyrrha told him in a tone that said that she wasn't sorry at all. "But if you're going to act like a child then I'm afraid we'll have to treat you like one." Pyrrha gave Jaune a gentle smile that he knew masked her devilish intent.

"Seriously, let me go. I feel fine, guys. I FEEL AAAH-Aaah, nevermind. That stuff feels pretty nice." Jaune changed his attitude pretty quickly as Ren rubbed the gel like medicine on Jaune's cheek. His cheek seemed to go completely numb and made Jaune question if he had ever really been injured in the first place.

"See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Pyrrha asked, releasing Jaune's arms. Jaune rubbed his wrists while glaring at his teammates.

"Did you have to manhandle me?" Jaune asked, his pride wounded at the thought that he had to be held down to receive medical treatment like when he was a kid. Ugh. Pyrrha had been right.

"I don't know, Jaune? Did we?" Ren asked sarcastically while screwing the lid of the small jar back on and whistling in amazement. "This stuff seems to be pretty powerful. Velvet really knows what she's doing." Ren went to go put it back in the drawer where Jaune had it before. "I think we should save this stuff. It really seems like it would be useful."

Jaune sighed and unstrapped his armor and sword before flopping on the three beds that were put together which frightened Nora. "AAAAAAGH!" She screamed in fear and surprise. Her teammates didn't even seem to register her scream. By this point they were all somewhat used to her eardrum piercing screams, which could be for no reason sometimes. Nora tore off her headphones and backed up against the headboard while taking deep breaths to steady her heart. Jaune simply lay on the bed with his face buried in the mattress. Pyrrha and Ren both sat on Pyrrha's bed next to them looking at Jaune.

"Jaune…" Nora began with a shaky voice. "What...did I say...about sneaking up on me?" This was not the first time such an event had occurred. It could honestly all be pinned on Nora for having the audio on her headphones turned all the way up and not paying attention to her surroundings.

"To not to if I wanted to keep living." Jaune said into the mattress.

"Then...why?" Nora asked, grasping at her heart.

"To be fair, Nora," Ren intervened before Nora could get too upset. "He's been back for five minutes and you didn't even notice. He didn't mean to even sneak up on you or scare you in the first place."

"That doesn't make it any better, Ren." Nora turned back to Jaune and glared at him, not that he could see with his face hidden by the mattress. "Last chance, Jaune. No more after this. Got it?" He just groaned and gave her a thumbs up. Good." Nora said, changing back to her usual tone. "Now do you remember the code for infinite health?" She asked.

Jaune moved his head so he could face her and speak clearly. "START, START, Y, START, START, Y, A, X, A, X." he recited the code to her in a robotic voice.

Nora donned a maniacal grin as she began to turn the tide of battle in her game. He smiled bitterly as she took pleasure in winning in a very unfair manner.

"So, how was training with Blake?" Ren asked first. He was honestly very curious as to why Jaune seemed so exhausted and why he had a swollen cheek.

"Well, we had a light spar for our first day of training together." Jaune finally sat up so he could face his teammates.

"I didn't realize a light spar resulted in a swollen cheek." Pyrrha commented. Honestly, she was a bit upset that Jaune had come back to their dorm on their first day looking like he had been caught up in a fist fight. When she and him used to train he would only have a few scratches or the occasional bump on his head.

"It was an accident." Jaune told his team. "I'm fine. I was just really surprised by it. I think I was shocked more than I was actually hurt." He lied. In reality he didn't want to tell them that for a split second he had been excited when he thought he had managed to stab Blake. To be able to do so would have been a real testament to how much he improved, but he felt horrified when he realized what he had done and still felt bad that he had actually gotten excited.

"Hmmm." Ren tilted his head and shrugged. "Well, that's that. Did you happen to learn anything new while sparring?"

Jaune opened his mouth to tell Ren about Blake's comments concerning his stance, but he thought better of it when he realized that it might sound like he was badmouthing Pyrrha's teachings. "Not all that much. She said that today was just to see what all she thought we needed to work on. She did say that my footwork needs some improvement."

Pyrrha nodded before responding. "I thought so. I'm glad someone else thinks so. Hopefully you can improve it while training with Blake."

"Jaune!" Nora interrupted, leaning closer to her leader. "Pyrrha said she won't get laser surgery."

Jaune paused and looked to his teammates for an update on what he missed. "Nora," Ren spoke while Pyrrha smiled helplessly. "Laser eye surgery does not give you laser vision. It's meant to improve your eyesight." He told her.

Jaune sighed and looked at Nora, who seemed severely disappointed. "That's not how it works, Nora."

Nora visibly deflated before looking back at her game. They heard Team RWBY's dorm room open and then close. Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora all gave him a questioning look.

"Did you and Blake not come back together?" Pyrrha asked, knowing how easily his pride could be wounded. If he got beaten by Blake as bad as she thought he did then it wouldn't be weird for him to not want to be around her.

Jaune shook his head to indicate that they were probably misunderstanding something. "That Sun guy came up and started talking to her. I kinda felt like a third wheel so I kinda ran back here."

"Did you at least thank her for the training session before you ran?" Ren asked with a smirk on his face as he imagined the scene of Jaune abruptly taking off running with fire on his heels.

"Of course." Jaune said before standing up to go to the shower. "I'll be out in a few."

Jaune's team waited for shower to start running and for Jaune's singing voice to leak through the bottom crack of the door before they began talking.

"Why does he seem so tired?" Pyrrha questioned, lowering her voice even though there was no possibility of her being heard by Jaune.

"Some people feel drained when change is introduced into their lives. Maybe Jaune is a bit tired because he isn't used to training with someone that has a completely different fighting style than himself." Ren reasoned.

Pyrrha looked skeptical. "But did she really have to go so hard on him the first day?"

Ren stood up and went back to the desk and to read his book. "He said that was an accident, didn't he?"

"Pfft." Nora rolled her eyes and waved her hand. " No guy likes to admit he got beat by a girl. Right, Pyrrha?" Nora looked to her teammate for support.

Pyrrha was already nodding her head in agreement. "That's right. None want to admit it."

The two looked at each other before nodding in unison.

"Oookay." Ren said, wondering why they couldn't just believe it was an honest accident. "But I think that we shouldn't worry too much. If it's too much for Jaune then he'll know it and probably ask to quit. Hopefully by then he will have improved enough to hold his own against the White Fang."

"He can't fight if he comes back every day looking like a zombie. Maybe we should talk to Blake. "Pyrrha said with a look of resolve.

"No, Pyrrha. Just stay out of it for now." Surprisingly the voice that spoke wasn't Ren's, it was Nora's. Ren and Pyrrha turned their gazes to her. They were expecting Nora to have one of her rare serious looks on but her expression was the same cheerful one as it always was. "If this helps Jaune, then I'm fine with it. If Blake can help then we should let her do her thing. Besides," Nora looked at her teammates with her usual goofy grin. "Jaune's our fearless leader. He'll be fine."

Blake was relieved to see that Ruby was the only one in their dorm room at the moment. Actually, someone was in the shower at the moment. That was fine. Blake sometimes preferred her young leader to her outgoing partner or her rigid teammate. Ruby seemed to not mind letting Blake have some quiet time to read and knew when to give Blake some peace and quiet when she wanted it. Yang, on the other hand, always tried to get Blake talking and would even go so far as to hide Blake's books or drag her to the city, but that hadn't happened since the Breach. Weiss always seemed to have to have something to say about some habit or quirk about her teammates. Blake knew that Weiss' nagging was her own way of trying to improve her teammates or help them, but "reading too quickly" didn't seem like something to be bothered about. All of those reasons made Blake appreciate how awkward Ruby could be, which ensured that she didn't always have something to say.

"Blake! You're back!" Ruby piped up when she saw Blake enter their dorm.

Blake stopped and her eyes widened in fear when she saw Ruby in her own bed, using the rope that kept it suspended there to swing lightly back and forth. "Ruby… We made sure that the bunk beds were perfectly stable when we made them. You're tempting fate right now."

"By swinging?" Ruby asked while tilting her head.

"You'll snap the rope!" Blake explained, hoping that Weiss wouldn't be in her bed if that rope snapped.

"Oh, it's fine." Ruby hopped off of her bed and landed on her feet softly. She turned to Blake with a curious look. "So how'd training with Jaune go?"

Blake approached her bed and took of her shoes. "About as well as one could expect. He did surprise me though?"

"Really?" Ruby asked. "How?"

"Most people have a hard time reading the moves of someone they've never fought before. Jaune figured out what one of my moves would be and almost got me in our little spar." Blake explained.

"What did you do?" Ruby questioned Blake while petting Zwei, who emerged from under Weiss' bed.

"Well," Blake began as she lay on her bed. "I tried to surprise him from above. I hate to say it but he figured that's what I might do. He almost cut me."

"Well, you are a kitty, so…" Ruby murmured quietly. "Pouncing on stuff is kind of your thing."

"I can still hear you, Ruby." Blake said, causing her leader to stiffen. "But you're not wrong. It's just surprising that a human was able to catch onto what I would do…"

"Hey!" Ruby whined sounding offended. "We fought the White Fang just fine before. Besides, didn't that Torchwick guy fight you and Sun with no problem?"

"Torchwick is a criminal who probably has more practical fighting experience and learned how to fight Faunus on the streets if I had to guess. Besides," Blake continued as she sat up and looked at Ruby. "You guys have been fighting newly recruited White Fang members. They might be naturally stronger or faster than you girls because of their animal characteristics, but they have almost no idea how to fight. Most of the ones we fought on the train were probably new recruits who were civilians beforehand." Blake hopped down and sat across from Ruby but sent a glare at Zwei when he looked at her. "Jaune could probably handle a few of them if he really had to." Ruby nodded in anticipation as a signal for Blake to continue. "But you saw the numbers that the White Fang has at their disposal. It would be a simple matter for Jaune to be overpowered by sheer numbers and be killed."

Ruby paled as she listened to Blake's bleak assessment of Jaune's probability of survival. "So can you help Jaune?" Ruby asked Blake while she hugged Zwei closer to her chest.

Blake smiled gently at Ruby. "If Jaune can fight and Ursa and live then there is still a chance he could get better. Killing an Ursa is more than pretty much all of the White Fang's newer recruits can do. Jaune's just a bit ahead of the curve when it comes to then."

Ruby brightened considerably and cuddled with Zwei. "You hear that?" She squealed. "Jaune will be ok!"

Blake almost felt bad at the thought of telling Ruby the next piece of information that would probably make her worry again. But as leader of Team RWBY, Ruby needed to know what could become of her fellow leader. "But it may be a different story if he runs into a lieutenant or another higher ranking member of the White Fang." Ruby stopped and looked at Blake again.

Ruby leaned in close. "Like that chainsaw guy from the train?" She asked, lowering her voice a bit even though the shower was still running.

"Does that mean Weiss is in there?" Blake asked, pointing to the door of the bathroom. Ruby nodded. So far Blake had chosen not to mention the man who defeated Weiss to the proud heiress. It seemed that after being defeated she couldn't recall anything concerning why she was unconscious. Ruby and Yang knew because Blake felt like they should know before they breached the subject with Weiss again. "Then yes. If Jaune runs into someone like him then he's in real trouble. I told you how that chainsaw guy came up to Torchwick and I while carrying Weiss. If she was beaten, then what chance does Jaune have against the more elite White Fang members?"

Ruby seemed to be in deep thought for a moment. She didn't say anything and released Zwei from her hold. Then she smiled and her eyes became pensive. "But you'll still help Jaune out, right? You wouldn't offer to train him if you didn't think you could get him ready for the White Fang."

Blake sighed as Ruby stood up and looked down on Blake. "I'll try, Ruby." Blake told her young leader.

Ruby smiled oddly and a gleeful look entered her eye. "Hehe. I've been waiting to do this for awhile." Blake almost asked what Ruby was talking about before her leader spun in a circle and stopped so that she was facing Blake. She pointed a finger right at Blake's nose which made the girl go cross eyed as she stared at the finger. "As leader of Team RWBY, I order you to make sure Jaune can kick some White Fang butt!" Ruby ordered Blake with an excited voice.

Blake couldn't help but smile a bit. Honestly, how could this girl act like a leader one second and then like a normal fifteen year old girl the next? "All right. I'll make sure he's ready, Ruby."

Ruby jumped and threw her hands in the air. "Woohoo! I actually got to give an order. You don't know how long I've wanted to do that."

Weiss came exited the bathroom at that moment with a nightgown on and was drying her hair with a towel. "What is all of this screaming about?"

The night passed and morning came and began like how it did most days, with Team JNPR and RWBY enjoying breakfast. Jaune and Pyrrha were already present when Ruby and Yang arrived at the cafeteria. Ruby waved to her friends before she and her sister grabbed their breakfast. After both girls sat down with their waffles and bacon Pyrrha and Jaune began conversing with them like any other day.

"So how was training with Blake last night, Jaune?" Yang asked. Her partner had been asleep when Yang had finally arrived back at their dorm.

"Why does you ask?" Jaune asked. His wounded cheek from last night had healed completely overnight, leaving no evidence of his fight with Blake.

"She was asleep last night when I came in." Yang said in a disinterested tone. "So I figured I'd ask you. So what do you think, Lady Killer? Our kitty got claws?"

Jaune smiled lightly to try and cover up how he felt bad about his elation at the thought of actually landing a major hit on Blake. "I guess so. Guess she isn't part of Team RWBY for no reason."

"Flattery won't get you out of spilling the details of your training." Yang smirked as she waved her fork in front of him. "But it is appreciated. Now go on."

"Well, I lost in our spar." Jaune admitted.

"She didn't ask for the obvious." Weiss said, appearing behind Jaune. "She meant is there a chance for you to win eventually."

"Totally!" Jaune said with all of the confidence of a movie star. "I'll get there. I feel like yesterday was a really good training session."

' _There's no way…'_ Everybody, including Jaune himself, thought to themselves.

"Great job, Jaune!" Ruby cheered for him as Weiss sat down next to her. "You've got this! You'll be literally juggling Grimm in no time with Blake and Pyrrha's help!"

"Thanks, Ruby." Jaune thanked his fellow leader. He honestly wished he could be as certain as her when it came to these sorts of things.

It was at that moment that Ren and Nora appeared with Blake at the breakfast table. Apparently the three had run into each other and walked there together and got breakfast.

"Hello all!" Nora greeted everyone with her normal enthusiasm.

"Morning, Nora!" Yang greeted the member of Team JNPR with a chipper tone.

Nora would have normally tossed a grape into Yang's mouth, as was their custom during meals. At least it had been until Weiss had given Ren strict instruction to not let Nora throw food again. They didn't want a repeat of last time. She began to have a conversation with Ren about a class that they shared together called Evolution of Grimm

"Jaune," Blake got the attention of the leader of Team JNPR. "Why did you seem to leave abruptly yesterday? Sun said that he remembered he had something he needed to ask you just before he left yesterday?"

"Ask me?" Jaune questioned. He felt like the monkey Faunus and himself didn't know each other well enough for the two of them to need to ask the other anything of importance. "Did he say what it was?"

Blake shook her head. "Mmm mmm. He just said that he was supposed to ask you something yesterday. He was hoping that he could ask you later tonight."

"I don't know what he could want with me, but if he needs something then I guess I could see what's up." Jaune began to think about what Sun could possibly have to ask.

"I'm sure it's nothing important." Blake said, buttering a piece of toast. "But he seemed rather insistent yesterday."

Jaune nodded to show that he understood.

"So, Blake," Pyrrha said, getting Blake's attention as she munched on a piece of toast. "What are you and Jaune going to be working on tonight? If you do something different that helps then I was thinking that maybe I should also do the same when I begin training with him again."

Blake nodded. It made sense to her and if it would help Pyrrha out then it would be all the better. "I decided that we'll just work on the basics tonight. It never hurts."

Pyrrha nodded, secretly pleased with Blake's decision to focus on simple aspects of combat on her second night of training with Jaune. She decided not to mention Jaune's injury at Nora's insistence.

Jaune hung his head as Pyrrha and Blake began conversing some more. "I was hoping to learn something cool." Jaune mumbled with obvious displeasure in his voice.

Yang reached across and flicked him on the head. "Silly, Jaune. Nobody moves on from the basics."

Pyrrha and Blake stood up when Pyrrha looked at her scroll and realized the time. "C'mon, Jaune." She said, tapping Jaune on the back. "Time to go to Professor Oobleck's class now."

Jaune stood up and reached under the table to grab his books that he had placed by his feet. " _Doctor_ Oobleck." He corrected his partner. "I made sure to remember when he made me stay after class to talk about his academic accomplishments."

Jaune followed Blake and Pyrrha to their history class and took their seats with Velvet. Oobleck appeared with his signature coffee cup in hand but he didn't seem as energetic as he usually did.

"Class," He began with a tone of dread. "Today we will be discussing a topic that I am meant to cover in this course, however much I may not want to." He took a deep breath before grabbing a piece of chalk and writing on the board. "As much as I would like to disagree with it, we will be discussing geography and population density."

The class groaned collectively as they opened their notebooks. Oobleck nodded to show that he empathized with them. "I agree. But until the Board of Education decides otherwise, we must discuss it. Now," He continued, while speedily drawing a map of Remnant on the board. He pointed at Vale. "As you all know, Vale is the central kingdom in Remnant. It is one of the more densely populated kingdoms and goes through all four seasons which means we get an equal amount of all four of them."

Jaune struggled to write legibly as Oobleck sped on with his lecture faster than usual. Jaune was the sort of student who felt that he couldn't really learn unless he copied down what the teacher was saying unless he copied it down word for word. It seemed that he really didn't want to discuss geography of all things.

"Next," Oobleck pointed at the northern kingdom on the map he had drawn. "Is Atlas. Due to it's northern location, Atlas is pretty much always in the middle of winter. There is a month in late summer where it warms up considerably and makes it quite enjoyable for tourism. However, due to the harsh winds and snowfall, Atlas has a relatively small population. Not only are there fewer people and Faunus, there are also some species of Grimm that you may not have heard of before such as Wraiths, but I will not dig into that today. Professor Port will be covering that next semester in Grimm Studies." Oobleck then pointed at Vacuo. "Vacuo, due to it's massive central desert has a very rough way of living. The humans and Faunus who live there have a particular way of life that results in most children being required to slay at least fifteen Grimm before they are even allowed to apply for primary combat schools. Many die due to the devious ways of the Grimm that live there like the Desert Koyote. It's ability to cause visual and auditory hallucinations have led many children to their doom." Oobleck lowered his glasses and gave each individual in the lecture hall a sharp look. "I advise caution if you ever visit."

Oobleck made sure he received a nod of acknowledgement before continuing. "Next is the kingdom of Mistral. Ms. Nikos," Oobleck appeared in front of Pyrrha in a flash, causing the notes of many students to almost fly away. "Being a resident of Mistral, could you please tell us what the geography is like as well as what the Grimm you commonly face are?"

"Yes, Pro-Doctor Oobleck." Pyrrha answered the teacher, making sure to correct herself, as she stood and faced the class. "Mistral is rather mountainous when you compare them to the other kingdoms." She began, not looking the least bit perturbed by the attention of the entire class being on her. "The mountains are lovely but they make excellent hiding spots for the Grimm to snatch up someone who isn't paying attention. They tend to hide in cracks and behind mountains and wait for someone to pass by."

"Splendid." Doctor Oobleck complimented her. "Now what about the Faunus/human population?"

Blake leaned closer to Jaune as Pyrrha answered Oobleck's question. She whispered to Jaune, "Isn't this his job?" She asked with a dry tone.

Jaune snorted, which cause Oobleck to shoot him a look. Jaune wiped the grin off his face in an instant and pretended to listen to the last of Pyrrha's answer.

"Thank you, Ms. Nikos." Oobleck thanked her as she sat back down. Oobleck approached his board again and erased it, only to begin writing some things he wanted his students to take note of.

Jaune's mind went braindead as tried to absorb information such as population density, mortality rate, literacy rate, birth rates, and any other statistics that Jaune didn't really deem important for a Hunter. He would almost prefer being chased by a pack of Grimm...almost.

 **So this is a little omake that crossed my mind when I was half asleep and watched a video concerning Egyptian gods. Try not to take this too seriously since this was something I just wanted to do for fun. I hope you enjoy this as well.**

Omake

The Pharaoh sat on his throne as his subjects left the throne. The Pharaoh's name was Arcankhamun, a young king of only seventeen years old. He had everything a young king could ask for in the mortal realm. He had power, wisdom, riches, food of the highest quality, the counsel of the most accomplished scholars, a well trained royal guard, subjects who looked to him for guidance and carried out his will at once, women from all across the land who sought to be his wife, and an entire section of the Nile under his control. There was nothing the Pharaoh believed he could ever desire. What do you get a man who has everything?

King Arc sighed as he rubbed his head. He felt abnormally tired on this particular day. Maybe he should send for a glass of wine. Before he could do so, he noticed a cat that had snuck its way into the throne room and was rubbing its head on one of the many luxurious sets of drapes. It was a cat with tan fur that looked up at King Arc as soon as it noticed him looking at it. The King couldn't help but let a small smile come across his face. He found cats to be quite enjoyable after a long day of ruling a kingdom. They were not at conniving or as exhausting to deal with as humans were.

King Arc stood from his throne and advanced a few steps before crouching a fair distance from the cat and holding out one of his hand. The cat approached and rubbed its head against the King's hand and purred as the King pet the feline creature. The King withdrew his hand from the creature, much to its disappointment, and removed his headdress and placed it upon his throne. His neck felt so much better without it on. He groaned and cracked his neck before noticing the cat was tugging on his Shendyt, the typical white skirt worn by Egyptian men.

The cat tugged once more before heading to the door of the throne room. It turned back to see if the King was following. When it saw that he was not, the cat approached the King again and tugged again on the Shendyt with its teeth.

"Is there something the matter?" He asked the feline creature. He chose to follow it to the door and opened it for the cat. The cat dashed out of the throne room and down the hallway for a bit before turning and meowing at the Pharaoh. The cat was not bothered by the guards it passed. When he was a boy, King Arc had taken to feeding any cats he saw wandering around the palace. Over the years many other cats began to gather in the palace which resulted in dozens upon dozens of cats who roamed the halls of the palace. The guards were under strict instruction not to mistreat the cats.

The guards bowed to the Pharaoh, which he paid no attention to, as he followed the cat. They passed several more cats who seemed to be waiting for the King to pass by. As he passed them the cats would hop down from their perch or emerge from their hiding places. This resulted in a parade of cats following the Pharaoh who was following a single cat. He was led to a part of the palace that was strangely devoid of humans. It was the gardens that were kept in wonderful shape. It was green and was home to exotic flowers that the King had taken a liking to.

However the King did see a lone female figure. She wore a simple white Kalasiris, a white dress that went down to her ankles and with shoulder straps with a gold necklace. Her pitch black hair fell in waves down her back. There seemed to be a white furred kitten sitting atop the head of the female figure as it meowed frantically. Every so often the women giggled, which seemed to reverberate across the garden.

"Is that so?" She asked to nobody in particular. "And does he treat you well?" The woman asked a question for an unknown recipient. The kitten on top of her head meowed frantically again, which seemed to please the woman. "Wonderful! He seems like he could be most interesting. I have high hopes for this one, my child." The woman picked the kitten up and removed it from her head. The King gasped when he saw cat ears on her head. He didn't even notice them while the kitten was on top of her head. The woman's ears twitched as they heard a gasp behind her.

She turned and saw a youth of about seventeen with golden hair and blue eyes, exactly as how her children had described him. There was a look of surprise in his eyes as he observed the woman.

She had amber colored eyes with kohl around them, pulling almost all of his attention to them. Crushed malachite was used to give her lips a red color, which made her smile seem more predatory.

"Arcankhamun…" The woman offered him a simple greeting with a dangerous grin that was only enhanced by her slitted pupils. "I see my children have led you here."

"Bastet…" The young King knew her name in an instant. He didn't bow or grovel like some of his subjects probably would. He was a Pharaoh, a literal god in the eyes of his people. There was no way he would bow before one who was his equal since the day he was born. However she was a guest within his palace so he would treat her as such. "I never expected to meet you in my mortal life." King Arc admitted.

Bastet hummed as she rubbed her feet on the soft green grass of the garden. "Well the stories my children have told me of you have gotten my attention. I wanted to meet the Pharaoh the spoke so highly of, which is why I came here." She explained simply.

King Arc approached her and sat next to her in the grass of the garden. "Stories? What stories?"

The god of cats smiled as she scratched behind her own ears. "Oh, not much. They have everything they need here. They are free to come and go as they please. You have never turned away a single one of my children, no matter how dirty or hungry or feral they were when they first arrived here."

The Pharaoh sighed. "I don't think those are stories worth telling." He said. A cat approached the King and looked up at him. He took that as a sign and began to scratch the feline's head. It began to purr as in happiness.

"Be that as it may-" Bastet became distracted due to the purring of the cat that was being scratched by Arc. Bastet remembered another thing her children had told her about the young King. "Arc," She said to get the attention of the King. He looked up at her, giving the god of cats his undivided attention. "I have a request." She began. She couldn't help but feel some shame at the thought of what she was about to ask. To think she would ask another to actually _pet_ her! "I was wondering if you would indulge me by...scratching...my ears…" The goddess became quieter with each word she said, making her wonder if King Arc had heard her.

"If that is what you wish." He answered simply before reaching out and scratching her ears.

Bastet's eyes shot open for an instant as the electric feeling of foreign hands rubbing her ears shot through her body. They closed themselves in pure bliss about as quickly as she began to lean forward more into the King's hand.

"INCREDIBLE!" A new voice shouted as the garden became flooded with light. "To think that the young Pharaoh could subdue even the normally fierce Bastet. Your reputation precedes you, young King."

King Arc's head snapped to the light in the center of the garden. Bastet and her "children" all seemed to hiss.

"Ra…" Bastet whispered dangerously. "What are you doing here?" She asked the glowing ball of light.

A female voice responded as a figure emerged from the light. "I wished to meet with the young Pharaoh who is said to be the unmatched ruler of the land. To think I would find him as he had you in the palm of his hand. I never could have predicted this."

A woman who wore a Kalasiris that stopped at her knees appeared before King Arc. Her hair, which was as golden as the afternoon sun, was adorned with several golden hairpieces. She had kohl around her lilac eyes and an amused expression on her face.

"You are Ra?" King Arc asked, unsure of what he had been expecting from the deity of the sun. She certainly seemed to be radiant enough for the name.

Bastet's nails dug into King Arc's flesh. Her pupils narrowed until they were almost impossible to see. "You've met him. Now perhaps you should leave."

"I think not." Ra proclaimed haughtily. "I feel like our meeting was a construct of the gods."

"Ridiculous!" Bastet replied, standing up and blocking the Pharaoh. " _Ours_ was certainly the more destined of the two."

"Umm." King Arc raised his hand as the deities began to argue. They both looked at him with an expression that said that they had almost forgotten he was here. "Do gods believe their fate is preordained by other gods?"

Bastet and Ra paused and looked at each other for a moment before they both smirked.

"A wit as sharp as any claw… How fitting for one such as me." Bastet muttered to herself with a sly chuckle.

"A logical man who can burn away one's own useless thoughts and hair as gold as my own. Our meeting was truly meant to be." Ra proclaimed with a hand on her bountiful chest.

Both deities turned to glare at each other once again. King Arc, being of mortal body and being restricted by human limitations, couldn't see Bastet draw a dagger from some unknown location and aim it right at Ra's throat. Ra matched her speed as she summoned a small ball of energy to the tip of her finger and stopped the blade just inches from her own throat. Sparks flew and the air around the garden whipped wildly due to the sheer force of the clash.

"Bastet," Ra smirked with a slightly evil glint in her eyes. "You seem to be quite upset about something. Care to _enlighten_ me?" She laughed to herself, much to Bastet's chagrin.

The cat goddess had never understood the humor of the sun goddess. "Yes. You seem to wish to lay claim to the Pharaoh Arcankhamun. But I'm afraid you will have to look elsewhere."

For the first time in his life, King Arc felt truly dumbfounded? Did the goddess of cats, Bastet, truly proclaim he was hers?

"I think not." Ra proclaimed, flicking her finger which made Bastet drop her dagger. "What goes best with gold?" Ra asked before disappearing in a flash of light and reappearing in another behind the King. She hugged him from behind and breathed her response in his ear. "Why, even more gold…"

Pictures of at least a dozen young, golden haired children flooded the King's brain. They all had his own blue eyes or lilac ones. "Father!" They all screamed as soon as they saw him.

Bastet approached the King with her eyes blazing furiously. She grabbed the arm of the King and hugged it tightly to her body and made sure to press up closely against him. "I think Arc would rather have a whole litter of children over pointless "riches" that he doesn't even need." Bastet looked down at Ra's body before smirking triumphantly. "That form will gradually lose it's appeal in a few years."

Both goddesses glared at each other while the King was red faced and was imagining dozens upon dozens of golden and black haired children with cat ears on their heads as they surrounded their father and mother while purring in delight. His mind switched back and forth between the two futures he saw before he blacked out.

In the underworld, the goddess of the dead known as Osiris was giggling madly. Her legs were partially wrapped in bandages and she wore a robe on her top half. She had red hair and grey eyes and her skin was even more blue because she was giggling too hard.

"How….amusing...he is." Osiris managed to wheeze. She wiped away a stray tear as she watched the goddesses Ra and Bastet bicker over the young Pharaoh known as Arc. "If he continued to be this amusing in the afterlife, I may have to have him for myself."

Osiris grabbed her crook that shifted into a scythe as she stood from her throne in the underworld. Ammit the Devourer, who was her companion simply grunted as it heard its masters laughing. She crouched in front of it and rubbed it's head affectionately and giggled when the giant crocodile hummed in pleasure. "Ammit," She began, making the creature open one of its eyes that was about as big a normal man's head. "What would you think if you were called Auntie Ammit?"

Suddenly the crocodile's mind was filled with pictures of blue skinned children with red or blonde hair who climbed on her and slid down her tail while giggling and calling her name. Osiris must have sensed the crocodile's thoughts because she giggled and spun away.

"I'd like that too!"

 **Hope you liked that passing thought of mine that you just read. If you enjoyed it and want to see more please let me know if you decide to review or PM me. I have an idea for another one if you like.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So I know I said I'd have this uploaded earlier this week but some stuff came up. My bad. I probably won't be able to update until about next Friday (At least that's what day it'll be where I live).**

 **Enjoy the story!**

Jaune walked across the school grounds to the practice arena that he and Blake had decided would be their designated training area. Classes were over for the day and Jaune had bid his teammates a goodbye when he had dropped off his stuff in their dorm and changed into his armor.

"I'm off." He told them, opening the door to leave.

"Good luck." Pyrrha had told him with a wave.

"Have fun." Ren wished his leader, not even looking up from his homework.

Nora, who was lying upside down on her bed looked at Jaune before he closed the door. "If you don't live, can I take your bed and combine both of ours to make one big bed?" She asked with a little too much enthusiasm for Jaune's liking.

"No!" He had told her sternly before shutting the door.

Jaune sighed while he pushed open the door of the practice arena. Knowing Nora she had probably ignored his order as soon as his footsteps had receded down the hall. Jaune saw Blake just off to the side of the arena just as he half expected her to be, but he stopped for a second when he saw a familiar monkey tail.

"Sun?" He called the monkey Faunus' name in confusion.

Sun, who was sitting next to Blake, grinned when he saw Jaune. "There you are! Glad you showed up. Neptune would kill me if he knew I didn't ask you two days in a row." Truthfully he had no clue who Jaune was until yesterday. The blondie had completely gone unnoticed by Sun until he made sure to remember Jaune's name and face.

Jaune remembered Blake saying that Sun had something that he needed to talk to Jaune about when they had been in the cafeteria. And was it something about Neptune?

"Well, he's here." Blake said with some annoyance in her voice. "Ask away. We have to get started."

"Right!" Sun said while standing. "Neptune and I-" Blake cleared her throat as she sent a look at Sun. "Actually, just Neptune," Sun corrected himself while rubbing the back of his head. "And I totally agree, by the way! He was wondering if you and your team would come with us to the city when we ask Team RWBY."

Jaune tilted his head. "Soooo Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Sun, and Neptune. That's who you are hoping will be on this little trip to the city?"

"Yep!" Sun said with a cheesy grin. "Since we aren't from Vale we were hoping to have some fun hanging out. But we just haven't been able to yet because, well…" Sun trailed off as he snuck a look at Blake, who met his gaze with a raised eyebrow.

"I distinctly remember you saying that you didn't want to be around my Team in the city because stuff always explodes." Blake said with her usual sharp tongue.

"Yeah but…" Sun trailed off as he looked for a way out of his predicament. He seemed to find it because his face lit up. "Neptune was hoping that maybe Jaune and his Team could keep you girls from going too crazy."

"What is my Team?" Jaune asked, breaking into the conversation again with a fake exasperated tone. "Are we just Team RWBY's leash holders?"

"Hey!" Blake interjected, a bit of Weiss slipping into her voice.

Both boys ignored her though as they began to talk again.

"So is that a yes?" Sun asked Jaune, hope clear in his voice.

"Maybe." Jaune replied with a light smile. "In the end it's not up to just me. My Team may be the deciding factor in this decision. Have you asked the rest of Team RWBY?"

"No. Blake was going to ask if they wanted to go when she gets back to her dorm tonight."

Jaune nodded. "When are you guys planning this little trip?"

"How's tomorrow?" Sun asked. "Transportation to the city has been really strict the past few days. Y'know with the Breach and all. Neptune said that it may be easier to get there now since things have calmed down a bit."

"Ok." Jaune said with a shrug. "Sounds fun but I'll ask my Team first and give Blake a definite answer later."

"Cool!" Sun gave Jaune a thumbs up before waving to Blake. "See ya, Blake!"

Blake gave him what Jaune could only assume was an affectionate smile. It was hard to tell because the corners of her mouth barely twitched at all. As soon as Sun had left, Jaune turned to Blake.

"So what was the real reason my Team was invited, Blake?" Jaune felt flattered by the monkey boy's words but he had his doubts that his Team would be able to hold back Team RWBY if it went down. Take the food fight, for instance.

"It sounds like," Blake said while standing and grabbing Gambol Shroud. "Neptune and Sun are trying to get me and Weiss out on a date of some sort and it seems like they think we'd be more willing to accept if we had other friends around us."

"Are you?" Jaune asked, not being able to keep the question from leaving his mouth.

Blake sighed. "I don't know. Weiss might accept Neptune's invitation if it was just the two of them. The rest of us would probably seem like an annoyance to her."

 _Me especially._ Jaune thought to himself bitterly.

"As for myself, well, let's just say I have a lot to take care of at the moment." Blake's eyes seemed to darken for a moment and she looked the way she had when she appeared sleep deprived not too long ago.

"So should I not ask my Team?" Jaune asked, feeling like she had subtly hinted that he was one of the things she "had to take care of".

"No." Blake said, turning to him. "You should ask them. I'm asking my Team after all. They may like to tag along if your Team does as well."

"Ok." Jaune said with a shrug while he drew his sword. "But I don't think my Team will be able to help much if you girls go out of control." He told her truthfully.

"Oh, I don't know." Blake said when she got into the center of the arena. She drew the blade of Gambol Shroud and pointed it at Jaune, who was still off to the side of the arena. "If you jumped in the way of a Beowolf while Ruby was charging at it, I'm pretty sure she'd stop."  
"Really?" Jaune said with a hopeful look.

"Or she could be going too fast to stop." Blake finished her morbid thought.

Jaune paled at the idea of his own body being cut in half along with a Beowolf while Ruby sped by in a blur of petals. Jaune shook the thought and expanded his shield. He didn't take a step forward yet. He was on the edge of the arena and was mentally preparing himself before stepping forward.

 _Remember Jaune, you aren't her friend when you're training. She's your teacher._ Jaune repeated that line to himself like a mantra six times before stepping into the arena and pointing his sword at Blake.

Jaune didn't waste anytime getting into the stance Blake had him in yesterday. She nodded in silent approval. This time Jaune didn't observe her carefully the way he had last time, instead he took one step forward and stabbed right at Blake's torso with his sword. She knocked it away with a flick of her wrist, not even phased by the attack. Jaune quickly took two steps back before raising his shield slightly to defend against a possible counter attack, making sure his shield wasn't too close to his face. Blake's expression was as neutral as ever as she still kept her blade pointed at Jaune.

Jaune gritted his teeth. Was she mocking him? He took two steps forward and stabbed at Blake again, choosing to aim for her right arm. With another flick of her wrist Blake sent Jaune's blade to the side. However this time she used her free arm to slightly push Jaune's shield out of the way so that she was past both his sword and shield. Jaune's eyes widened for an instant as he realized what had happened before he received a punch to the stomach.

Jaune fell to the ground clutching his stomach. He opened his eyes to see Blake already next to him, offering a hand. "That's no good, Jaune." She told him.

Jaune sat up and looked up at Blake who still had her hand held out to him. "What did I do?" He asked.

Blake ignored his question for a moment to grab his hand and pull him up in a surprising show of strength. "You let me get past both your sword and shield." She said, adopting her teacher tone. "Once I get past your killing range then you're pretty much dead." She explained to him.

"My killing what?" He asked.

"Killing range." She said again. Blake took his hand that held his sword and had him hold it straight out in front of him. "Hold your arm here." She commanded before backing off so that the point of Jaune's sword hovered just around her heart. "Now do you think you can kill me, Jaune?"

Jaune looked at her in sincere confusion. Why did he feel like she wasn't talking about fighting Grimm? He gulped before nodding.

"That's your killing range Jaune." She said, backing away some more. "Anything at the tip of your sword and along the blade is your killing range. But once someone gets past it then you're dead meat."

"So," Jaune began, his throat feeling rather dry at the deadly serious look in Blake's eyes. "Your 'killing range' is-"

"That's right." Blake said, unraveling a bit of the black ribbon she kept wrapped around her arms. "Anything that my ribbon can reach is my killing range. Depending on a person's weapon, they can have a long killing range or a close killing range." She looked back at Jaune, who looked rather nervous. She slowly walked forward in a relaxed manner. "Remember Jaune," She said, getting closer to him. "Never let me get past your killing range."

Jaune was about to nod before he saw a slight movement of her right arm. On instinct Jaune jumped back only to see Gambol Shroud's blade slicing where he had been only a second ago. She had gotten past his killing range! Even after she had told him not to, he had allowed her to do it anyway. It was his fault for letting his guard down! He had been looking too much at her eyes that were sharper and narrower than they usually were. It was as if they belonged to another person.

"Good job on dodging that, Jaune." She complimented him, her eyes still as dangerous as ever. "But you let me get inside your killing range!"

Jaune breathed heavily. He had actually felt her blade brush the threads of his hoodie when he had jumped back. She really could have hurt him!

"Don't let it happen again!" She shouted, dashing toward him and giving him no time to speak or think.

Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren stopped at the statue at the front of the school. They were all wearing running clothes and were all sweating to varying degrees. Ren was hunched forward, using his knees as support while Nora had her hands on her back and was stretching backwards while taking huge breaths.

"Good job, you two." Pyrrha complimented them after she took a drink from a water bottle she had. "I think we can get a few more laps in before Jaune is done training with Blake."

"Remind me again…" Ren said, holding up a hand. "Why are we running laps around the school?"

"Because we need to build more endurance!" Pyrrha said with her usual upbeat tone. She seemed to be only slightly winded after running ten laps around the school. "And stand up straight, Ren! It's easier for you to draw in more breath if you're standing properly."

Ren groaned as he stood up straight. He seriously hated it when Pyrrha went "Mom Mode" on Nora, Jaune, and himself sometimes. Seriously, she was only a teenager. Did she really need maternal instincts this early in her life? Oh well. She wouldn't be Pyrrha if she was any different so he couldn't complain much.

Nora snatched the water bottle from Pyrrha and took a big gulp. "Ahh." She wiped her mouth before speaking. "So what else do you have planned, O mighty champion?" Nora said with a sarcastic tone. "I'm getting tired of running. Let's go smash some stuff already!"

"I actually agree with Nora on this one, Pyrrha." Ren gave his opinion while grabbing the water bottle before finishing it off. "It's a bit difficult for Nora and I to change our fighting styles this late in our lives. I'm good at ending fights quickly and Nora ends fights by overpowering her opponent."

"But we're talking about fighting White Fang here, not Grimm." Pyrrha said. "We all said that if Jaune wants to survive a fight with the White Fang then he needs to change. Are you saying that we shouldn't be doing the same?"

They both shared a guilty glance before turning to Pyrrha. "What do you want us to do then?" Nora asked.

Pyrrha took a deep breath. She was glad these two could be reasoned with. "Ren, your endurance needs the most work. If a fight gets dragged out then you get sloppy. That could be dangerous. Nora, you… nevermind. I'll tell you later." Pyrrha promised her friend.

Nora gave Pyrrha a strange look before smirking. "While we're standing around her, I bet Jaune is training to leave us in the dust. C'mon, Ren! One more lap! You can do it!"

Ren groaned as both girls pushed him along the perimeter of Beacon on one last lap. He hoped Jaune had it better than he did.

Jaune jumped out of the way as Gambol Shroud fell toward him. The blade of the weapon embedding itself in the ground where he had been. Jaune thanked the stars that he had been able to dodge that strike. Blake gradually began to fight more and more aggressively as their spar continued. However, Jaune knew that she was nowhere close to going all out. He hadn't even been able to get in close for an attack in the past few minutes! He was just dodging for all he was worth and Blake was really testing his limits. Each dodge felt a bit more sluggish, every breath hurt his lungs, his arms had gone numb, and his sweat had begun to drip into his eyes. And he was surprised to find that he was actually finding the fight a bit enjoyable.

Sure Blake was holding back and just using the ribbon and blade of Gambol Shroud to keep him at bay, but this gave the illusion that she was scared of engaging him in a test of blades. In a way it was really exciting when you convinced yourself that another fighter was afraid of you. But he knew that she could shatter that illusion at any moment. Like now!

Blake snatched Gambol Shroud from the air and charged forward at Jaune again. Jaune was ready and raised his shield. He felt three thuds against his shield as Blake jumped in the air and rapidly kicked at his shield three times. When she landed, Blake took the blade of Gambol Shroud and struck his shield, causing sparks to fly from the clash. Jaune pushed against Blake to put some distance between them. Blake stumbled back, surprised by the shove that she had not seen Jaune use yet.

Jaune saw her momentary loss of balance and quickly stepped forward and delivered a horizontal slash. Jaune's jaw dropped when Blake's upper body bent backward in an impressive show of balance and flexibility. Her knees were bent as her entire upper body dodged the blade and her feet were planted on the ground with no sign of slipping. It was incredible! She didn't even need to use her hands to keep herself from hitting the ground. Just as Jaune's blade passed over where she was, Blake planted a hand on the ground and spun her body, using her legs to kick Crocea Mors out of Jaune's hand.

Crocea Mors flew from Jaune's grasp and he grabbed his hand as a sharp pain ran through it. It felt like he had closed a door on his hand. He looked in front of him to see Blake on her feet again, not a single hair out of place, as she pointed Gambol Shroud at Jaune. They looked at each other for a moment before Blake let out a single breath and lowered her weapon.

"Better." She said simply. "You kept me from getting past your killing range and you were smart enough to stay out of mine until the end." Strangely enough, Jaune felt a sense of pride growing in him as he heard Blake's assessment of their latest battle. "As for when you tried to attack me when I lost my balance…"

Jaune's pride faded a bit. "Sorry!" He said raising his hands in an apologetic gesture. "It was in the heat of the moment and I just did it without thinking! I'm-"

"Jaune!" Blake raised her voice slightly to cut him off. Jaune's mouth snapped closed and he lowered his head. "That was a good move."

"Say what now?" Jaune raised his head with a baffled expression.

"That was good." Blake made sure to slow down and enunciate her words for him. "When we fight do that more often."

"B-but Pyrrha said that wasn't very sportsmanlike." Jaune said, reminding Blake of a naive child.

Blake rolled her eyes as she responded to Jaune. "Pyrrha is teaching you how to fight tournament style matches. I'm teaching you how to fight Grimm and how to defend yourself. Do you want another incident like the one with Cardin?"

Jaune's eyes darkened as he recalled the bullying he experienced at Cardin's hands. "Ok. So take the advantage more, right?"

"Exactly." Blake nodded, pleased that he was catching on and glad that he didn't realize what else this training was meant to do.

"So want to have one more round?" Jaune asked, his eyes flicking over to his sword.

Blake brought her Scroll out. "Tch. It's gotten kinda late." She told Jaune, showing him the time on her scroll. "I think we have time for one last round. You seem to have gotten the idea of what killing range means in a fight. All that's left is some practice for you to really remember it."

Jaune walked over and picked up Crocea Mors. He turned and faced Blake again, ready to try and beat her and fail again.

Jaune was honestly stumped. He didn't know what he should do in order to win. Blake was too fast for him to even get close to. If he wanted to stand any chance at beating her in a sparring match he needed to surprise her in some way. But how? She seemed like she had a plan for almost anything he could do. So maybe he should try something she thought he would never do...then maybe he could find a way to beat her.

He advanced toward her and gave a few quick slashes with his sword, all of which were parried by Blake and her ridiculous speed. She planted her foot on his shield and pushed with all of her might so that Jaune stumbled back and tripped over his own feet. Falling to the ground, Jaune saw Blake starting to whip Gambol Shroud around her using the black ribbon around her arm. He quickly stood again as she began to advance forward, her blade catching the light of the room which gave Jaune a rough idea of where her weapon was in the air as it disappeared in a blur of speed. He couldn't see her weapon that was dancing in the air around them without taking his eyes off of her, which would be a big mistake.

This was simply a repeat of their last round where he hadn't been able to get in close for a hit. He was being held at bay by Gambol Shroud again.

Jaune summoned his courage. What he was about to do was completely crazy! But maybe she wouldn't expect him to do it. Taking a breath, Jaune yelled and charged at Blake with his shield up, ready to block Gambol Shroud should it get too close. He ran forward, feeling the wind from her weapon whip around his face. Blake flicked her wrist and Jaune felt Gambol Shroud hit his shield with a CLANG.

 _I've got her!_ Jaune cheered in his mind as he closed the gap between the two. He had finally gotten past her killing range! Jaune was about to stab at Blake's right arm that held Gambol Shroud but her left hand, faster than a viper, grabbed her ribbon from the air and ducked, causing Jaune's blade to sail over her. She knocked it away with a hand and jumped above Jaune before planting her hands on Jaune's shoulders. She seemed to use his shoulders as a way to spin above his body before she jumped off. Jaune whirled around, slashing behind him and hoping that he had been right about where she landed. His blade met only air when his swipe had gotten to where he thought she was.

There was a slight tug on Jaune's neck that caused him to look up. Above him he saw Blake perched on a light fixture above him, with her ribbon wrapped around the fixture and the other end of her ribbon leading down. Jaune followed the ribbon with his eyes to see that it led to his neck that was tightly wrapped with the cursed black ribbon. If she jumped down from the light fixture then Blake could leave him hanging...literally.

The eerie creaking of the light fixture was the only thing that could be heard for several seconds before Blake unwrapped her ribbon from the light fixture so that he wouldn't be strangled and jumped down silently.

"I guess this is your win." Jaune muttered, clearly unhappy that his plan hadn't worked.

"Mmm hmm." Blake replied while walking up to him to unwrap her ribbon from around his neck. "I did win. But that was a stupid idea." She told him, fixing him with a glare. "I saw four times where I could have cut your legs and made you lose when you charged at me." Blake finished unwrapping her ribbon from his neck and began wrapping it around her arms. "It was a dumb idea on your part. One that could have gotten you killed if we were fighting for real."

Jaune winced at her brutal destruction of his idea that seemed brilliant at the time. "What was I supposed to do? I thought that you wouldn't be expecting something like that." He whined.

Blake sighed in resignation as she dropped her glare. "I wasn't expecting it. That's how dumb it was." Jaune hung his head again. It seemed like he had grown quite adept at that motion. "But if it had been somebody other than me, you might have won."

Jaune looked up, expecting to see her smirk that he had seen on her a few times, only to see her face looking as blank as it had been when they fought. Jaune had a feeling that was the closest he was going to get to praise from her during this training session.

"Let's take a break. There's one more thing I want to do before we leave for the night."

Jaune practically collapsed on the floor when she said that. He was not used to all of the running and dodging he had done today. Blake chose to sit across from him, looking like she had just done a light workout in comparison to what Jaune felt like was a marathon.

"Blake, can I ask you a question?" He breathed out, feeling thankful that the AC in the arena was on.

"You just did." She said with her usual curt tone of voice. Jaune just looked at her blankly, not amused at all by her terrible attempt at humor. "But I suppose if you need to then you can ask me another one." She said with a ghost of a smirk this time.

"Well I was wondering why you don't mind my Team tagging along with your Team on the trip to the city. I mean, you said earlier that Sun and Neptune want to ask you and Weiss on a date. Aren't a whole bunch of friends coming with you guys the antithesis of a date?"

"Oh, Neptune would probably enjoy having more people tag along and Sun will certainly try again. I'm sure of it." Blake replied with an amused tone.

"Are you trying to avoid Sun or something?" He asked before berating himself. He shouldn't poke his nose in her business.

"No. He and I are going to see a movie sometime but this outing to the city and that are two different things." She told him, not appearing offended at all. Blake had agreed to Sun's invitation last night through a text message. "Jaune, contrary to what you may think, I have begun to enjoy things other than reading while I've been here at Beacon."

"Although you still keep _Ninjas of Love_ hidden under your pillow…" Jaune said with a deadpan expression and monotone voice.

Blake's eyes widened. "H-how did you k-know about that?" She demanded to know.

"Ruby told me I could borrow a textbook from her one day so she left your dorm room unlocked. I went in but it wasn't where she told me it was. I began looking around and I saw a corner of a book sticking out from under your pillow. I thought that was the textbook I was looking for. Joke was on me." He recounted the events that led to him finding Blake's novel.

Blake's hand stealthily slid down next to her so that she could grab Gambol Shroud. _No witnesses!_ Her instincts cried.

"So is it any good?" Jaune asked.

"What?" Blake froze at the question, her hand just barely touching her weapon.

" _Ninjas of Love_...is it...well...any good?" Jaune managed to ask while he fidgeted and looked down.

Blake raised her eyebrows a bit. "Jaune, are you...trying to make small talk?"

Jaune smiled shakily. "Am I that transparent?" He asked.

"No. Just reminds me a lot of Ruby." Blake explained seeing the parallel between the two leaders. They were both a bit socially awkward and had never been given a position of leadership until getting to Beacon. It didn't help that Beacon was rather prestigious and their every choice was being judged behind the scenes. However the responsibility seemed to be a good thing for both of them because it forced the two to mature more quickly than they would otherwise.

"That bad, huh?"

"I really don't think you of all people should be judging another's social skills. Remember the guitar playing?"

Jaune turned pale and buried his head in his hands. "I'll never live that down, huh?"  
Blake chuckled through her nose. "It's your own fault for not considering the consequences." She told him while remembering Jaune's failed attempt to serenade Weiss.

"I guess so. It's a good thing I gave it away. Now I don't have to be reminded of it every morning when I wake up." Jaune's face became distorted in disgust as he remembered his own embarrassing actions. "I really was insane, wasn't I?"

"Well what you did is pretty much the definition of insanity." Jaune's expressions were rather amusing to Blake.

"Says the girl who got chased by a giant mech with her boyfriend." Jaune shot back. He had heard the story from Yang and could only thank the stars that he hadn't been present.

"Are you talking about me and Sun?" Blake surprised herself by how loud her voice seemed to become.

"Who else would I be talking about?"

Blake shook her hands in front of her in denial. "No no no. I think you've got it wrong. Sun and I aren't-"

"But I thought you said you guys are going on a date sometime."

"We are but it's not like that!" Blake didn't know why she seemed to defensive about this particular topic. "We're just friends!"

"Blake…." Jaune's eyes narrowed and, for what seemed like the first time to Blake, he actually looked like a Leader. "You aren't leading Sun on, are you?"

Blake felt like she had backed herself up into a corner. "No. It's just…" Blake sighed. "I just have a lot on my mind right now."

Jaune raised an eyebrow suspiciously. He seemed nothing like the clumsy swordsman he normally was.

 _Seriously,_ Blake wondered to herself. _What is with these people in positions of leadership like Ruby, Jaune, and Ozpin whose personalities do a total one eighty sometimes?_

"Ok." Jaune relented, smiling normally. "I just wanted to make sure. As long as you take him seriously when you have less on your mind, then I guess I can't say much, huh?"

Blake stood up. Never did she believe that she would actually be admonished by Jaune Arc. She offered him her hand, which he accepted, and hauled him to his feet.

"Anyway before we leave I want to show you something." Blake told him.

"Ok. Lead the way, Teach." Jaune gestured for her to lead him.

Jaune followed Blake to a room that was in the back of the practice arena. It smelled like sweat and the ground seemed to just be a solid block of concrete.

"We have a weight room?" Jaune asked, looking at all of the equipment, unsure of what many of the machines were meant to strengthen.

"Yep." Blake confirmed for him. "I want you to find time to come here as much as you can and workout by yourself."

"Seems simple enough." He said. "But seriously why does it smell like my older sister's closet in here?" Jaune had been breathing through his mouth the whole time and even that felt disgusting. "Did something die in here?"

Blake craned her head and looked past all of the different weight machines. "Yeah, probably." She said, amused by his squeamish expression. "C'mon. Let's go before the smell seeps into our clothes."

Jaune rushed out of the room faster than Blake could even blink. She sighed in mild frustration. Now if only he could be that fast in the middle of a fight.

"Spill it, Pyrrha." Nora stood over her friend's bed with her hands on her hips. "You said we'd talk later. It's later." Nora was no fool. Pyrrha had avoided pointing out Nora's weakness in fights because Ren was around. Ren was in the shower now since the girls had claimed the shower first so there was no chance of him overhearing them talk. Jaune hadn't returned from training with Blake either. Now was the perfect time.

Pyrrha sighed. In reality this wasn't a talk she wanted to have with Nora. But it seemed to be one they would have to have anyway if their Team was to improve. "Nora," Pyrrha began, choosing her words carefully so she didn't upset her friend. "When it comes to fights I think that you get distracted too easily by-"

"No way." Nora interrupted, flexing her muscles. "I never get distracted in a fight! I've got so much concentration that you can just call me 'orange juice'." Nora waited for Pyrrha to laugh at the joke. But none came.

"Like I was saying," Pyrrha continued. "You get too distracted by Ren." Pyrrha finished her sentence, with no small amount of discomfort in her voice.

Nora's smile faded. "What do you mean?" She asked with a small hitch in her voice.

Pyrrha patted the spot on her bed in front of Nora to indicate that she should sit down, which Nora reluctantly did.

"During Initiation when we were fighting the Deathstalker, do you remember that fight?" Pyrrha asked.

Nora nodded. It was the first time that Team JNPR fought together. Nora never thought she'd be able to work so well with people, aside from Ren, before that fight. All of their moves seemed to be perfectly coordinated.

"Well when Ren got flung of of the Deathstalker's tail, you got distracted. Sure it was only for a moment but the fact remains that because Ren got hurt, you seemed to lose focus on the fight."

Nora scowled. "But we're partners. We're supposed to look after each other."

Pyrrha placed a hand on Nora's shoulder. "I know, and I'm not saying that you shouldn't. It's good that you worry about Ren. But Nora what would happen if we were in a fight with intelligent people and not an instinct driven Grimm?"

Nora's expression turned a bit sad. "I know that. You don't have to tell me. Pyrrha. But if Jaune got hurt in a fight wouldn't you react the same?"

"Of course I would." Pyrrha said with no hesitation.

"Then-"

"But I'd try not to let it distract me since he'd probably get mad at me for not helping you and Ren out before worrying about him." Pyrrha finished.

Nora bit her lip. Nobody liked having their weak points pointed out to them. Nora looked up when she felt Pyrrha's other hand on her shoulder. "Looks like we've both got our hands full with our partners, huh?"

Nora nodded. Honestly those two boys would probably give their partners grey hair before their time at Beacon was over. "Let's make a deal!" Nora said, surprising Pyrrha.

"A deal?"

"Mmm hmm. When we get into a fight, I'll watch after Jauney with you and you'll watch after Ren with me. That way we won't have to worry as much since we'll both be watching them." Nora offered her proposal, trying to keep her normally chipper expression in place.

Pyrrha smiled. Nora really was trying to improve in her own way. Looks like entrusting Ren's safety to another was only one way she was doing it. "Deal." Pyrrha responded with her usual conviction.

The two girls hooked pinkies just as their partners burst through the two doors of their dorm and caused them to jump apart. Ren emerged from the bathroom, dressed for bed and with a towel on his head, while Jaune came in through the entrance with dust on his clothes and sweaty strands of hair clinging to his forehead.

"Ugggh." Jaune groaned as he approached his bed like a zombie. "It's only when I get back to our room that my fatigue really hits me."

"Usually I would sympathize with you," Ren said, walking to his bed in the same manner. "But today I don't want to hear you complain."

Those were the only words traded between the two males before they collapsed on their beds at the same time.

Nora leaned in close to Jaune and took a whiff of his hoodie. "Eww, Jaune!" She cried, holding her nose. "You smell awful. You can't go to sleep all sweaty like that. Go get in the shower!" Nora was tolerant of almost anything but the boys skipping showers was not on her list of things she could tolerate. It was one of her quirks that people didn't often expect from her.

"Five more minutes." He responded weakly.

Nora glared at him as seriously as her face would allow, which didn't seem to bother Jaune. Finally she sighed. "Fine. I'm going to go get a snack. I'll be back in five minutes and if you aren't in the shower by the time I get back, I'm electrocuting you with a toaster in the bathtub."

Nora slipped on some slippers she owned and closed the door behind her when she left the room.

Jaune scoffed. "She wouldn't." He had complete confidence that Nora wouldn't actually murder him for not showering.

Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren all heard Nora practically break Team RWBY's door off of its hinges when she burst in uninvited. "Hey, friendos!" She greeted them. "You wouldn't happen to have a toaster in here by any chance, would you?"

"Oh, she would." Ren assured Jaune.

"Better hurry, Jaune." Pyrrha warned him as Jaune attempted to take off his shoes while stumbling to the bathroom.

 _I still have to ask them if they want to go to the city tomorrow._ Jaune reminded himself. He'd make sure to do it when he got out of the shower. That is if Nora didn't change her mind and throw a toaster over the shower curtain anyway.

 **So there you go! Obviously Jaune isn't gonna beat Blake after one or two training sessions but he is still trying. I'm not a fan of making Jaune super OP so I'll try to keep his growth a bit more realistic. Now I tried to have Jaune and Blake open up a bit more to each other since I have found that you can sometimes become closer to someone after discussing friends that you both know. It's not like their gonna be all over each other right off the bat. That sort of stuff takes time and even then I don't believe that sort of relationship would fit with either of their personalities.**

 **Just so you know, that part where Jaune brings up** ** _Ninjas of Love_** **to Blake originally was totally different and I'm glad I changed it to what it is now since what I had at first didn't seem like something the two of them would discuss. There is also some stuff going on with Sun at the moment that will come into play later.**

 **What else? Hope you liked that little scene where Nora and Pyrrha were talking. Honestly those two girls are like monsters compared to their partners in the series so it makes sense that they'd constantly worry and look after each other's partners.**

 **The next chapter will center around the trip to the city with Sun and Neptune and I'll also use it as a chance to introduce a character who will be a real driving force behind the story (Maybe I'll introduce two). I'll also try to include an omake for those of you that enjoy those!**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Don't you hate it when relatives decide to spend the weekend at your place unannounced? Cuz I do and that's why I didn't upload this earlier like I wanted to. On top of that, I deleted the omake I had written for this chapter by mistake. I'll have it retyped for the next chapter though, so please bear with me.**

 **Anyway this chapter is not my favorite. I used it as a way to introduce a character who will be important in the story but as a result I didn't get to focus too much on Jaune and Blake's relationship, which I will focus on more in the next chapter. You may also feel that this chapter feels a bit rushed in the writing but that is due to my stress from finals this week and I wanted to not keep people waiting for this chapter. I won't make any deadlines for myself that I won't be able to make again, so chapters will start to be uploaded when I think they are good enough now and I'll try to use Christmas break to write several chapters in advance. I'll try not to let this happen again.**

 **Anyway you may feel like the weapon that my OC uses is reminiscent of the Whirligig Saw from the** ** _Bloodborne_** **DLC. I want to establish that I came up with that weapon concept for my OC before** ** _the Bloodborne_** **DLC was announced. I figured that it's a bit late to change her weapon now so I'm just gonna roll with it.**

 **Try to enjoy the story!**

Team JNPR made the unanimous decision to go to the city with Team RWBY, Sun, and Neptune. Jaune had Nora go over to Team RWBY's dorm and tell Blake that Team JNPR would be tagging along the next day. But Jaune had forgotten one important detail about getting to the city.

Jaune looked up at the flying metal death trap that would be their transportation to the city. Of course he had forgotten such an important detail. How could he possibly be expected to remember when he had been so wiped last night?

Ren and Nora looked up at the airship as well. They were dressed in their normal attire while Jaune had taken off his armor, the lack of weight made him feel more like a civilian rather than a Hunter in training. Pyrrha wore a red sweater and bronze colored capris and had chosen to go without her head piece on this particular day.

"Just my luck…" Jaune muttered as the airship docked.

"This is the fastest way into the city…" Pyrrha sweatdropped with a helpless smile.

Team RWBY arrived just as she said that and greeted their friends.

"Surprised you came, Ren. This didn't sound like your kinda thing." Yang said to the quiet boy with her hands behind her head.

"I enjoy going out to the city sometimes too, Yang. It just seems weird to you because I don't fight giant mechs and go to nightclubs." Ren shot back with a dry tone. He found it easier to deal with Yang if he kept his answers short and simple. He didn't have to deal with her teasing like most people did.

"Not yet anyway. I bet you'll get there one day." Yang offered him some encouragement he didn't really want or need.

"Hey! You guys made it!" Sun called. Neptune walked beside him and waved to everybody.

"Of course we did!" Weiss crossed her arms with a huff. "As the ones who came up with the idea for this trip shouldn't you two have been here first?"

"Why would we do that? You all know where the airships dock." Sun responded with his honest opinion which seemed to annoy Weiss.

"Anyway let's get on before the ship leaves us." Neptune said, stepping between the two before Weiss could do anything. He smiled at her to try and get her to enter the ship without causing a scene. She sighed and proceeded to enter the airship along with everyone else...well almost everyone else.

"Jaune...you coming?" Nora poked at her leader's face.

Jaune was frozen stiff. Why should he get on that thing? If he was meant to fly he would have been born with wings. Although if he didn't get motion sick then he may have been singing a different tune.

"A-actually I think I left the light in our dorm on. You guys go on without me and I'll catch up." Jaune turned to sprint away before he felt Nora grab his hood.

"I made sure it was off, Jaune." Nora assured him, giving him a thumbs up.

"I need to lock up." He said, looking for any excuse.

Pyrrha grabbed his left shoulder and flashed him her celebrity smile. "I made sure to do that. I even double checked."

"I thought I heard Professor Goodwitch call me." Jaune seemed to be trying for anything he could possibly think of at this point.

"Jaune," Ren placed his hand on his friend's right shoulder, effectively ensuring he was trapped by his three teammates. "It's the weekend."

Weiss was tapping her foot impatiently on the entrance ramp of the airship while everyone hesitated. "You shouldn't have agreed to come if you were going to act like this! It's too late to back down now, Arc. Or are you planning to walk the whole way?"

Jaune's eyes flew open at the unexpected lifeline. "Yeah. That's exactly what I was gonna do! Great idea, Weiss."

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Jaune again. It seemed that after the dance he somehow managed to be even more annoying than he was before.

"That's a tasteless joke." She responded, turning on her heel and entering the airship. She didn't even have to look back to know that Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren were all dragging Jaune onto the ship. The doors closed behind the large group, effectively sealing Jaune's fate.

Jaune wisely chose to sit in the closest seat he could find to the restroom. Pyrrha moved to sit next to him but was cut off by Sun, who slid into the seat next to Jaune so that he was across from Blake. Her smile instinctively grew bigger. Her agent had taught her a trick that made her smile even when the biggest annoyances in life surfaced. As a result, her smile tended to grow bigger when she was particularly annoyed.

Weiss had chosen to sit next to Neptune by the window so that they could gaze at the scenery. Nora and Yang had opted to lay across a bench so that they could have an arm wrestling match. Pyrrha chose to sit between Ren and Ruby on this ride, although they could both tell that she would rather have sat next to Jaune even if there was a chance of ruining her outfit...which he hadn't commented on that day.

"So what are we doing first, guys?" Ruby asked Sun and Neptune.

The two seemed to freeze on the spot as their heads slowly turned to their friends from Vale.

"We were hoping you guys would have an idea for something to do." Sun told them.

"We aren't from here. Remember? This is kinda why we asked you guys to come with us." Neptune elaborated a bit more.

"Well," Yang began, looking away from her arm wrestle with Nora while the ginger girl struggled to move Yang's arm even with the use of both hands. "We can always go shopping. I know this shop where they have the best clothes."

"There's always that shoe shop that Coco recommended to us." Weiss seemed to agree with where Yang was going.

Ren, Sun, and Neptune all sighed when they realized where this would be going if they didn't intervene. Seriously why couldn't these girls show a little bit of consideration for the males of their group?

Sun scooted a bit closer to Jaune and nudged him with his elbow. "C'mon Jaune, you don't want us to be dragged around clothes shopping all day do you? I bet you know at least one or two places where we could all hang out."

Jaune had his eyes closed and was trying to not notice the slight shifts in the movement of the airship. Every little jostle felt like an earthquake and he felt his stomach churn along with it.

"I dunno." He said through gritted teeth. "The park, I guess." He said the first thing that popped into his head.

Sun seized the suggestion as soon as it left Jaune's lips. "Hey!" He said, rather loudly to get the attention of the girls. "It's almost lunchtime. How about we eat lunch in the park when we get there?"

"Like a picnic?" Ruby's face lit up.

"Now that I think about it, I haven't been on a picnic in ages." Yang chipped in with a finger on her chin.

"The weather is nice enough today." Weiss surprisingly seemed to approve of the idea.

Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha all nodded their agreement. A picnic did seem like a nice way to wind down after the Breach. As young Hunters and Huntresses in training they had earned a bit of a reprieve.

Sun threw his arm around Jaune's shoulder and whispered in his ear. "Wow. Great idea, dude. You're a genius."

Weiss began talking to Neptune about what food they should eat for their picnic at the park. Neptune seemed relieved at the fact that a shopping spree had somehow been avoided...for now.

Blake narrowed her eyes at Jaune and Sun across from her. The two boys seemed to be getting rather chummy...or about as chummy as a monkey boy and a guy with his eyes shut and his fists clenched could look. "You boys realize I heard every word, right?" She lowered her voice a bit so that her fellow females didn't notice.

Sun chuckled nervously and Jaune cracked open one eye to look at Blake. The dark haired girl smirked and made a show of wiggling the ears underneath her bow just to mess with them a bit.

As soon as the unmistakable sound of the airship docking reached their ears, Jaune took off like a bullet to get off of their transportation. His group caught up to him several seconds later only to see him hunched over a trashcan with sweat dripping down his face.

"I..I made it. Didn't lose my breakfast." He sluggishly raised his fist in victory. Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren gave Jaune a light applause that was quickly followed by Team RWBY, Sun, and Neptune doing the same. Yang came up behind him and patted him lightly on the back.

"You gonna be ok, Vomit Boy?" Yang asked, making sure to keep him at arm's length just in case.

Jaune nodded and wiped his brow. Luckily he hadn't eaten much for breakfast so he had nothing to throw up. "Your shoes are safe...for now." He couldn't resist trying to tease Yang a bit.

Yang backed off and scrunched up her nose. "Eww. Don't be gross."

As the large group walked to the park Pyrrha offered Jaune her shoulder to lean on, which he gratefully accepted since he was a bit lightheaded and unsteady on his feet.

"So any ideas for what we want to eat?" Ren asked first.

"How about a pizza?" Yang offered her suggestion. "We can just order an extra extra large one."

"Sounds good." Sun nodded his approval at the idea.

"No." Weiss shot down the idea. "Too many carbs."

Everybody except for Neptune gave the heiress a deadpan expression.

Neptune sensed the shift in mood and decided to see if he could help out the group of people he was starting to think of as friends. "But carbs are good for you. At least in moderation. If you don't then your brain starts to rot and you get liver damage. So they're kind of important…"

"But-" Weiss started before she was cut off by Sun.

"Yeah! Before you know it you'll be a twig with a mental disease and a bad liver!" Sun poked fun at Weiss with a smirk on his face.

"If we do pizza," Ren said while gaining everyone's attention. "We'll need to get more than just one. I know this place that also serves salad." He looked at Weiss in particular as he said that.

Weiss sighed. She really didn't like feeling like the odd one out on this. She knew it was bad when even Ren was making her seem like the black sheep of the group. "Fine. We'll get pizzas. I guess this can be my cheat day."

Yang and Sun smirked at each other. Neither of them expected that to go as easily as it did but they were happy that it did.

"Ok!" Sun clapped his hands before rubbing his hands together. "We'll split up. Blake and I will go get the pizzas. Everyone good with pepperoni?" He received a series of nods in reply. "Anyone wanna volunteer to go get drinks? Getting drinks from any pizza place is expensive."

Jaune raised his hand. "I'll go, I guess."

"I'll go too." Pyrrha volunteered, placing a hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"Perfect!" Sun pointed at everyone else. "Can I count on the rest of you to find us a good place in the park?"

Nora, Ruby, and Yang all gave Sun a mock salute while Ren, Neptune, and Weiss simply nodded in agreement.

Jaune turned to head to a nearby pharmacy before he was stopped.

"Hold on a second, Jaune!" Sun got Jaune's attention and threw a hand over the shoulder of his fellow blonde. "How are you gonna buy drinks without any money?"

Realization dawned on Jaune's face before he chuckled to cover up his embarrassment. "Whoops!"

Everyone handed Jaune differing amounts of money while telling him what they wanted while Weiss demanded that Jaune find the highest quality mineral water he possibly could.

Sun and Neptune shouted "Break!" before the three groups split up to head to their own destinations.

Jaune gave Pyrrha a helpless look before shoving the handfuls of money into the pocket of his hoodie. "If I don't get mugged for carrying this much then I may just be the luckiest guy alive."

Pyrrha twirled a bit of hair on her finger as she responded. "I'm sure you can take some random guy with a knife after training with me for a few weeks and with Blake for a few days. Besides…" Pyrrha shifted her arms behind her back, looking more content than Jaune had seen her in weeks. "You have me here with you."

"Good point." Jaune nodded. "A mugger would be more inclined to ask you to sign their foreheads since you're so famous."

"Or, depending on who it is, they may ask me to sign their cereal box." Pyrrha giggled softly at the memory of Jaune's realization of who she was.

"I thought we agreed not to speak of that…" Jaune reminded her as his face began to heat up.

"I never agreed. You made that proposal on your own. I never said yes to it." Pyrrha reminded him.

It was times like these that she enjoyed the most. Sure most people saw her as an untouchable figure who was above mortal beings, but her Team had managed not to do that. Well Jaune had when their Team had been first established but he seemed to have forgotten who she was to most people. When she had first extended her help to Jaune he had turned her away due to his own pride, but after the incident with Cardin where he learned his own lesson in humility he had begun to reach up to her on the pedestal that people had put her on, eager to stand toe-to-toe with her. And Pyrrha was all too willing to reach down and try to pull him up. If you showed her an image of Jaune when they had first met and the Jaune she knew now, she might think that they were completely different people. But she was ok with that. The Jaune she was walking with now was the Jaune she liked best. He seemed to have forgotten who Pyrrha the Champion was entirely and looked at her as just Pyrrha. And she was totally fine with that.

Pyrrha was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't realize that she had almost walked into the door of a drugstore before Jaune grabbed her shoulder. "Careful." He warned her as she snapped back into reality and almost stumbled through the door.

"Oh. Sorry about that. Just daydreaming." She half-lied.

"That's ok. Besides you have me here with you. Daydream all you want." Jaune smirked as he copied her earlier words.

They entered the drugstore and set out to find everyone's preferred drink. "Looks like I really am the luckiest guy in the world. Didn't get mugged." Jaune jokingly cheered.

Jaune managed to find the most expensive bottle of mineral water for Weiss, not really paying attention to the actual price since she had given him more money than should be needed for a bottle of water. Just as he reached for it, he heard a commotion at the cash register at the front of the store.

"Why the heck not?!" A female voice shouted, causing all other buyers to look to the front of the store.

Jaune also looked and saw the manager of the store with his arms crossed and a stubborn look on his face as he was being yelled at by a female customer. She caught Jaune's attention immediately. She wore black jeans tucked into black combat boots and had on a grey shirt underneath a black leather jacket. But her choice of clothes wasn't why his attention was focused on her. It was her grey hair and the pair of grey animal ears atop her head and the glint of steel that he saw just for an instant underneath her jacket.

"I'm practicing my right not to sell to certain customers." The manager explained with an even tone. He seemed to think he was in the right about something.

"You mean Faunus, don't you?" She questioned with a snarl. The ears on her head seemed to flatten against her head as her tone became deadly.

"No. I mean criminals." The manager replied with a look of contempt.

The woman let out one final snarl before slamming what she had been trying to buy on the counter and storming out. "All the same. Every one of you." She hissed to herself as she left.

Jaune felt a hand on his arm and he turned to see Pyrrha looking at him with a mixture of emotions in her eyes. Wrath, sadness, and a yearning to help. "Jaune, maybe we should…"

"Yeah." He said in agreement with her unsaid suggestion that they should hurry and purchase their drinks before leaving.

When the approached the register, the manager's expression became very hospitable in stark contrast to his face a mere minute ago.

"Ah, welcome! Let me get this out of your way." He said jovially as he reached out to remove what the Faunus woman had tried to purchase. It was a single bottle of orange juice. Such a large dispute over such a little thing…

"Actually I'd like to purchase that as well." Jaune stopped him with a straight face.

"But sir-" The manager began.

"Is that a problem?" Pyrrha asked while she gave off an intimidating aura that was targeted at the manager.

The manager gulped and grabbed his collar. When did the air get so dense?

"No. Absolutely not." He said as he quickly rung up the drinks that she and Jaune placed on the counter. Anything to get this blonde guy and his scary girlfriend out of his store.

Pyrrha and Jaune walked out of the store and was a bit surprised when Jaune handed her the plastic bag of their drinks. "Do you mind going on ahead without me?"

Pyrrha expected Jaune to look outraged at the scene they had just witnessed but his expression was as peaceful as ever. Of course it was. That's just how he was when he seemed to make up his mind about something. He had looked much the same way when he had decided that his Team would go into the city to help deal with the Breach.

"Sure." She said, taking the bag and offering the most encouraging smile she had ever given. "But be sure to hurry. Your share of the pizza might get eaten."

"If it looks like that'll happen, defend my pizza with your life!" Jaune shouted to her as he turned away and began running in the opposite direction to catch up with the unmistakable grey ears that were slowly disappearing into the distance.

The Faunus woman turned into an alleyway, breaking Jaune's line of sight with her. He brushed past several people, making sure to apologize along the way, who were going about their day. He turned into the alley to see her at the end of it. She paused for a second before sneezing in a way that Jaune actually found kinda cute despite the fact that he was chasing her like some weird stalker. She sniffed as she wiped her nose and turned down another alley. Jaune cursed to himself. How many alleyways were in this city. He put on another burst of speed and rounded the corner to see...nothing.

The woman wasn't there. How was that possible? He had only turned the corner three seconds after her. So how-

"Monkey see, monkey do. Looks like I've made a fool out of you." A female voice behind Jaune said as he felt the cold touch of steel on his neck.

He slowly turned to see the Faunus woman he had been chasing. She held a long stick in her hands that had a large buzzsaw on the end that was next to his neck.

"Listen Monkey Boy, I don't like being followed and I don't like liars. Now if you can tell me why you decided to follow me, I'll most likely let you go, but if I don't like your answer then I'll let Viscera leave you a kiss on your pretty little neck." She moved the buzzsaw an inch away from Jaune's neck and pressed a trigger somewhere on the stick that caused the blade to start spinning. The whirling of the blade next to Jaune's ear was deafening for a moment. Slowly, so as not to agitate her, Jaune held up the bottle of orange juice that he had purchased for her.

"I-I brought this t-to you. Th-Thought you might want it." Jaune cursed the stutter in his voice but the woman behind him didn't seem to notice as her eyes widened and she snatched the bottle from Jaune in a flash. Jaune knew that he really shouldn't be thinking it, but she was actually kind of pretty.

She gulped the drink down in three seconds flat and threw the bottle down the alley before a loud belch slipped past her mouth. She covered her mouth and looked at Jaune, as if hoping that he had somehow not heard that. He tried to keep his face as neutral as possible but the corners of his mouth began to twitch. The woman sighed and removed the blade from Jaune's neck.

"Sorry, pal. I've been a little paranoid lately. Didn't want to have to hold you up here. I thought you may have been some Faunus hating human."

Without the blade of a huge saw next to his head, Jaune turned to face the woman. Now that he got a good look at her she seemed to be only about two years older than Jaune. Her bangs were swept to the side and her animal ears on her head twitched as a cool breeze rolled by. "I don't hate the Faunus."

"Pfft." The girl said with an amused expression. "Of course you don't. That'd be pretty stupid of you to hate your own kind."

Jaune's reply got caught in his throat. _Wait. "Own kind"? Does she think I'm a Faunus?_ But Jaune had another question at the moment. "How did you know I was behind you?" He asked.

"Umm." The girl pointed at the ears on her head that looked rather wolf like. "Hmm." Then she pointed at her nose that was probably just as sharp. "It's kinda hard not to notice that I'm being followed by some monkey boy who smells like a walking banana stand."

Jaune resisted the urge to smell his hoodie. _I don't smell like bananas, do I? I made sure to wash this thing recently. Wait…_ Jaune remembered when Sun sat next to him on the airship and when Sun had thrown his arm across Jaune's shoulder. Sure it hadn't really been for very long but his scent may have rubbed off on him. Was that why she was calling him "Monkey Boy"?

"Sorry." The girl said, breaking Jaune out of his thoughts. She held out her hand to him. "Us Faunus have to look out for each other, right? I'm Dusty."

Jaune had a feeling that based on how she had just been treated by humans revealing he was really a human may not be the smartest idea. For now he should just play along. Besides what were the odds of him running into this girl again?

"I'm Jaune." He introduced himself as he grabbed her hand.

Dusty shook his hand and the shaft of her buzzsaw weapon folded into a more compact form that reminded him of how Ruby's weapon could fold out into a scythe. Dusty clipped her weapon on her back belt loop while making sure that her jacket covered up the wicked saw blade.

"Sorry," Jaune began. "But you don't look like a criminal to me. Are you a Huntress?"

Dusty stared at Jaune for a moment before she burst into a laughing fit. "Haha. Oh man! That's rich. Me? A Huntress?" She laughed at Jaune's question for about a minute more before she was able to compose herself. "No. I'm not a Huntress. I just know basic fighting stuff. And no, I'm no criminal. That guy just doesn't like serving Faunus customers. I swear, it's like being a Faunus is a prerequisite for being a criminal. Or visa versa depending on how you want to look at it."

"I-I suppose." Jaune said nervously. He still didn't have enough of a feel for this girl to know if she'd butcher him for being a human like the manager back at the drugstore.

"Which reminds me," She said, reaching in her pockets. "I owe you, don't I?"

Jaune waved his hands in front of himself. "Oh no! Don't worry about that. It wasn't much. I just wanted to get that juice for you since that guy didn't wanna sell to you. The joke's on him since he didn't know about me."

Dusty stopped and offered Jaune a small smile. "Well, if you insist. I really wish I was able to hide my traits more easily." She pulled out a grey beanie from her pocket and put in on her head. "Seriously my ears get so itchy when I put a hat on them. Being a coyote Faunus isn't fun sometimes."

"Ummm." Jaune realized that he had been talking with Dusty for a few minutes now. If he didn't hurry then his friends would start to wonder where he was. "Listen Dusty, I have to go. I'm hanging out with some friends at the moment. I just came after you to give you that juice."

Dusty shrugged. "Sorry. I didn't realize you were busy. But thank you, Jaune. It may seem like a small thing to you but I still feel like I owe you. If you ever need help, your brothers and sisters aren't too far away."

Jaune was about to ask her what she was talking about when she said "brothers and sister", but he was cut off by the wind picking up and scattering dirt and trash in the alleyway. Some dust got into Jaune's eyes and made him tear up a bit, but he did manage to make out some figures that looked vaguely like coyotes with glowing eyes. Dusty stood in the middle of them and waved at Jaune. He blinked once and just like that she was gone. Jaune was completely alone in the alleyway. Jaune actually questioned if he had really spoken to anyone in the first place but quickly wrote it off as his own silliness.

"There he is!" Nora cheered with a mouthful of food.

Jaune's friends turned to see him approaching their spot under a tree in the park. Several pizza boxes were stacked up and it looked like three had already been devoured.

"The golden boy returns." Yang held up a slice of pizza in a mock toast. "Chasing some _tail_ there, Jaune?"

"So I guess Pyrrha already told you about what happened when we went to the store?" Jaune asked, sitting down next to Ren.

"Of course she did." Weiss said while throwing a pizza crust into a pile next to her, and if the pile was anything to go by she had already eaten about five slices. "Although I was under the impression that we would all be hanging out, not running off at the first sign of a damsel in distress."

Jaune scratched his cheek nervously. "I wouldn't exactly call this girl a 'damsel in distress'. She had a weapon that made Ruby's scythe look like an oversized letter opener."

"A letter opener that I use to kick butt!" Ruby stood up and instinctively reached for Crescent Rose before realizing she left it in her dorm. She slumped down as she became red with embarrassment.

"Regardless," Pyrrha said. "I bet she was grateful."

Jaune remembered the feeling of Dusty's weapon, Viscera, on his neck. "That's one way of describing it."

"Nora! Put that slice down. That's Jaune's." Ren snatched a piece of pizza away from Nora's hands before handing it to Jaune. Apparently she had been trying to steal one from Jaune's share.

"OK!" Yang raised her fist in the air. "As soon as Jaune is done eating which shop are we going to first?"

The four boys suppressed a groan. Jaune tried to eat as slowly as he possibly could so that he could try and waste some time that the girls would use to shop.

As everybody began to talk, Jaune made eye contact with Blake. She looked approvingly at Jaune.

"Judging by what Pyrrha said," She said, speaking in a tone that not everyone would hear. "It's probably been some time since that girl has seen kindness from humans."

"Actually she thought I was a Faunus." Jaune replied.

Blake's eyebrows lifted up ever so slightly. "What? Why?"

Jaune pointed at Sun. "Seems like some of Sun's smell rubbed off on me. Looks like I can add 'Monkey Boy' to my list of nicknames."

Blake smirked. "I think I'll stick with Vomit Boy."

Jaune's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Just you wait. One day I'll find out something embarrassing about you that I can make a nickname out of."

"Oh please." Blake rolled her eyes. "What are you going to do, Jaune? Call me Crater Face?"

"I just might!"

"Not if you value your life."

Blake didn't even have to have Gambol Shroud for him to imagine that ribbon wrapping around his neck. "I think I'd like to keep living, thank you."

"Good answer."

"But when I do think up of a nickname for you I'll try to make sure that it's not something Yang would think up of. Deal?"

"Did I hear someone call my name?" Yang asked in a sing song voice as she moved closer to Jaune and Blake.

"No, you did not!" Jaune and Blake hurriedly told her while their voices overlapped.

Yang's eyes widened. "Wow. Didn't think my company was so bad…" Yang looked a bit offended.

Blake sighed. She had discovered that Yang didn't hold a grudge for very long, probably because she would get even fairly quickly. If she and Jaune didn't do something to fix her mood then they would be on the receiving end of her jokes and pranks.

"Why the... _Long_ face, Yang?" Blake felt her eyebrow twitch at the horrible pun.

Yang looked at Blake with a deadpan expression. "That was horrible."

"I know." Blake hung her head before she realized what she was doing. Seems like Jaune had begun to rub off on her way too much. Before she knew it she'd be throwing around pick up lines and throwing up on airships.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sun asked. He had only just now realized that Blake, Yang, and Jaune were conversing together.

"Nothing." Blake mumbled.

Jaune grinned like an idiot and spoke like he was very proud of himself. "We were talking about _Xiao Long_ Blake has been waiting to use a terrible pun."

A piece of crust hit Jaune in the head. He looked over to see Weiss red with anger. "Don't you start too. The last thing we need is another blonde throwing around puns." Weiss turned her gaze to Ruby, who looked embarrassed at her sister's actions. "Sometimes I have no doubt that you two are sisters, but there are times when I refuse to believe you are related."

"Aww, c'mon." Yang threw her arm around Weiss' shoulder. " _Weiss_ so serious?"

"I will freeze you solid if I hear another word, Yang!" Weiss began to scream at Yang.

Jaune couldn't help but smile. This scenario would look the exact same if they had decided to stay at the school today, but Jaune was glad he had decided to go through riding the airship to come here with them.

 _But,_ Jaune thought to himself. _What did Dusty mean when she said 'brothers and sisters'? Am I just misunderstanding something?_

"Ok!" Yang stood up again, looking as serious as she could possibly look. "Time waits for no one. If we don't hurry, the shops will close."

"I thought I said no more puns." Weiss warned Yang as she stood up too.

A moment passed before everybody in the group let out a collective "Oh".

"I get it, Weiss. Cuz stores have _clothes_ and they'll _close_. Nice one." Yang offered Weiss a thumbs up.

Weiss paled at the realization that she had seen an opportunity for a pun before Yang. "Oh no. It's happening…" Weiss looked at her hands as if expecting them to change it Yang's hands. "She's rubbing off on me. Someone, save me from this sickness…."

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter despite how rushed I felt. Like I said, I'll try not to let this happen again where I get rushed and I feel like the quality isn't good enough. That's not fair to you guys. The next chapter will be much better and I'll focus some more on Jaune and Blake. Depending on when I get the next chapter done I may or may not write an obligatory Christmas omake. One more thing, don't be surprised that I didn't describe the girl's shopping spree. I'm a guy after all. It was just as boring and excruciating for the boys as you can possibly imagine.**

 **Anyway have a good one!**


	6. Chapter 6

Jaune sat with his hand propping up his head as he sat listening to yet another Team Leader of Beacon rattle on. At least Ruby was next to him, leaving him with at least one friend to suffer with him throughout. He hated these school meetings where they gathered all of the Team Leaders to discuss things like proper conduct during the upcoming Vytal Festival, changes in training arena hours, and paperwork that needed to be done for the Tournament. Things like registration for the Tournament were coming to a close so it was time to start rushing about to get everything finalized.

There were several dozens of Team Leaders in attendance to this particular meeting that Jaune and Ruby had decided to go to. There would be several more meetings throughout the day because there were too many Team Leaders in Beacon to cram into one room for a single schoolwide meeting. The arrival of other Teams from the other Academies didn't help either.

Professor Goodwitch stood to the side, only giving her input when she felt the meeting was beginning to get off track. Most of the Team Leaders were mature enough that she didn't need to say much to keep the meeting flowing smoothly. She checked her watch and clapped her hands once to grab everyone's attention.

"Our time for this meeting is almost up, ladies and gentlemen. We should wrap everything up for the day. Are there any last minute notices or reminders?"

Coco stood up and raised her voice for all to hear. "Just a reminder to the first years. Make sure you get the paperwork turned in on time." Her eyes settled on Ruby, who blushed at all of the gazes that settled on her because of Coco. "Make sure we can actually read your handwriting." She looked in the back corner at Cardin who scowled and looked away. "And no ketchup stains on the forms...Jaune."

"Why did you only mention my name specifically?!" He asked, standing up.

A few laughs at Jaune's expense were heard before the Team Leader meeting was called to a close. Jaune walked next to Ruby and folded up the registration forms before putting them in the pocket of his hoodie.

"Do you have training with Blake again tonight?" Ruby asked Jaune as they began walking towards their dorms.

"Yeah." Jaune answered with a nod. "She didn't make me do anything last night since everyone was kinda tired when we got back to our dorms."

He remembered being dragged around by the girls for hours as they all tried on set after set of clothes before they only bought a few things out of the hundreds that they had tried on. A complete waste of time.

"So who's a better teacher? Blake or Pyrrha?" Ruby asked with genuine curiosity.

"Well, I guess they both have their good points. Pyrrha is very understanding when I mess up all of the time and takes things slow for me. On the other hand, Blake only has to correct me once before I make sure to remember it and it feels like what she teaches me is a lot more practical."

"That's a pretty lame answer." Ruby said looking unsatisfied with his answer.

"I've only been training with Blake for a few days, Ruby. It'll take time before I know for sure. Besides neither of them are 'bad teachers', they just have different ways of teaching."

"That's another way of saying that you don't know, isn't it?" Ruby deadpanned.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Jaune sighed.

It was hard for Jaune to decide which of the two was a better teacher for him. Pyrrha was nice and always corrected him every single time he messed up. But with Blake there was this silent pressure that made him feel like little screw ups weren't an option.

"You'll make up your mind eventually." Ruby said with a pat on his back. "Anyway what do you have planned for the rest of the day?"

"Avoid trouble for as long as possible." Jaune made his resolution to have a peaceful weekend before tomorrow clear to the world.

"I'd say you failed already, Jaune." A new voice cut in.

The two first year Team Leaders turned to see their senior Leader, Coco, standing right behind them. She lifted her shades and gave the two a cocky grin. "Sup?" She greeted them.

"Not much." Jaune responded, grabbing Ruby's hood before the sparkly eyed girl could get too close to Coco's handbag.

"So is my opinion in your choice of style. Seriously, how long have you owned that hoodie?" Coco made a jab at Jaune while holding her bag out of Ruby's reach in the air.

"Long enough for me to love it!" Jaune wrapped an arm protectively around his beloved clothing article.

Coco rubbed her head in exasperation. "I wish you'd get a girlfriend already. She'd take it from you for sure."

"Says the girl who doesn't have a boyfriend." Jaune muttered softly.

"I'm alone by choice, slick."

Jaune paled. He hadn't expected her to actually hear him.

"By the way, Ruby," Coco looked down at the girl who had actually begun to jump up in an effort to reach Coco's handbag. "Can you stop trying to steal my weapon? My arm is getting tired."

"Then lemme-"

"NO!" Coco rejected the request before Ruby finished. She knew what to expect from Little Red. She had been all over Coco after the Breach because she wanted to take a look at Coco's weapon.

"Anyway Coco, what's up?" Jaune asked while tightening his grip on Ruby's hood.

"I'm bored out of my mind." Coco confessed. "Between class work, getting ready for the Vytal Festival, the Breach, and dealing with all of the missions my Team has been sent on lately I haven't had a chance to relax."

"Where's your Team?" Ruby asked, still trying to reach Coco's weapon.

"They don't always have to hang out with me, Red. They have stuff to do sometimes."

"Did you ever think that we may have stuff to do?" Jaune questioned.

Coco rolled her eyes. "Please. Between the two of you I'd say you have more free time than a sales clerk on a slow day."

"Hey!" Ruby and Jaune yelled in sync.

"Don't think I didn't see you two dozing off in the middle of the meeting."

"I've been busy!" Ruby shouted.

"M-me too." Jaune agreed.

"Doing what?" The unmistakable voice of Blake joined the fray. "Being Team RWBY's leash holders?"

Ruby looked at Blake for a moment, who was wearing her uniform even though it was the weekend, before turning to Jaune. "What is she talking about, Jaune?"

Coco's eyebrows were raised behind her shades. "That seems fairly accurate." She gestured to Jaune who was still holding Ruby by her hood.

"Anyway Ruby, Yang was wondering if you wanted to help her and Nora out with...something. Don't ask what it is. I've learned not to ask by now." Blake informed Ruby.

"Guess I gotta go find her then." Ruby smacked Jaune's hand away from her hood. She made one last grab for Coco's weapon, which Coco evaded, before speeding off down the hall in a flurry of petals.

Jaune spit out a stray rose petal that had made its way into his mouth. "Where do those things even come from?" Jaune asked while gesturing to the rose petal path that looked like something from a cheesy romance movie.

"That's something we all would like to know." Blake brushed a few from her hair. "I was also looking for you too, Jaune."

"Me? What for?"

"Sun and I are going to go see that movie he was telling me about today. But he neglected to tell me that. So imagine when I looked at my Scroll and saw that he had bought us tickets for today during when we _were_ going to be training." Blake's annoyance was painfully obvious as she explained this to Jaune. "So I was wondering if you would be fine with training earlier than we had planned."

Jaune took a second to think. "Sure. I have nothing going on at the moment."

Blake breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Jaune waved his hand. "You're the one who's taking the time to train me."

Blake nodded and shrugged her shoulders. "True. Then meet me in the training arena in twenty minutes. Make sure to change into clothes more suitable for training. You don't want to get any more dirt on your precious hoodie."

Jaune's eyebrows lifted somewhat. "Wait. How long were you listening to us exactly?"

Blake shrugged with a glint in her eye that Jaune could only call mischievous before nodding goodbye to Coco and turning away.

"Last I heard, you were training with Pyrrha Nikos, Jaune. You two having a fight?" Coco asked, butting into Jaune's business.

"No! Nothing like that. Pyrrha just thought that I could benefit from a different teacher for a while." Jaune denied Coco's question.

"Hmmm." Coco continued to walk with Jaune for awhile as he headed to his dorm to change. "I say be careful around that girl."

"Blake? Why?"

Coco actually shivered a bit before she wrapped her arms around herself. "She looks like the type that'd be into voodoo."

Jaune laughed at what he thought was a strange joke from Coco. "Oh man, that's good. Blake into voodoo." Jaune continued to laugh before he noticed that Coco looked as serious as ever. "Oh my gosh! You're serious! You think Blake practices voodoo."

"Who knows what's in those books she reads?" Coco asked nobody in particular.

"Riiiight." Jaune said as he now stood in front of his dorm room. "Anyway, I need to change. It was cool talking to you, Coco."

"Wait a second!" Coco grabbed Jaune's shoulder before he entered his room. "I'm still bored!"

"Then find Yang, Nora, and Ruby. Whatever it is they're doing could probably use your help." Jaune suggested.

"Fine." Coco said with a sigh before shoving her finger in Jaune's face. "But if you see any plushies of me, be sure to grab them and don't use them."

"Coco, do you seriously have a fear of voodoo?"

"I'm not scared!" She denied the accusation. "I'm just cautious."

"Riiiiight." Jaune rolled his eyes as Coco left.

About fifteen minutes later, Jaune was running around the practice arena with Blake on his tail. He resisted the urge to look behind him to see if she was still chasing him and if his shield was still where he had dropped it on the ground.

With only his sword to defend himself, Jaune was in a rough spot. How was he supposed to beat her now?

Blake on the other hand looked cool and collected but her mind was racing.

 _He has the blood of heroes._ She remembered Pyrrha telling her. _I'm sure you'll see what I mean when you're training him. He just needs...a gentle nudge every now and then._

Blake was skeptical. Maybe what Jaune needed was a shove. If it worked for teaching baby birds how to fly, then why couldn't it work to teach Jaune? Blake had deliberately robbed Jaune of his shield and was intent on making sure that he wouldn't be getting it back during the fight.

 _Now what will you do, Jaune?_

Blake put on an extra burst of speed to pressure Jaune into making a move. His curiosity had gotten the better of him and he had looked back just as she started to close the gap between them. With a panicked expression, Jaune slowed down flailed his sword backwards to try and hit Blake. Blake managed to duck underneath the swing and kick Jaune in the stomach as she skidded to a halt. She turned quickly and lunged at him with Gambol Shroud. Jaune managed to get his sword up in a two handed grip and protect himself from the blade that could have seriously injured him. Crocea Mors and Gambol Shroud generated sparks as their blades scraped against each other.

"Don't slow down mid-swing, Jaune." Blake ordered as she tried to push him back with little success. There was no denying that he was definitely much stronger than her physically. "Don't think I didn't see you slow down at the last second." She had seen his swing falter just before she had ducked underneath it.

"I'm trying." Jaune insisted with frustration written across his features. He applied some pressure to Gambol Shroud and Blake took several steps back so that she didn't fall back.

Blake scowled before she relented her pressure on Crocea Mors and sidestepped quickly. Jaune began to stumble forward before Blake stuck her foot out and caused him to fall on the ground. Just as Jaune was about to get up, he felt the cool feeling of Gambol Shroud on his neck.

"Jaune," Blake's voice sounded close to him. He looked to the side to see her crouching next to him. "A creature of Grimm or a combatant in the Vytal Festival wouldn't be so nice that they'd let you get away with what I am. You can't hold back at all."

Jaune simply sighed and rolled over so that he was lying on his back. Blake noticed that the look in his eyes was the same dejected look that he had when Cardin gave him a hard time. "Blake, why did you agree to train me?"

Blake was caught off guard by the question. She didn't really think that Jaune would ask that question before. But it was an understandable question.

Blake sat down cross legged on the ground. "Well I guess it would be because of what you said before. About the White Fang and the Faunus." She clarified when she saw his questioning look. "It's hard for the Faunus. I'm lucky that I'm a member of Team RWBY. If I wasn't then I don't think I'd be able to tell another Team about my being a Faunus. I guess I was just glad that you and your Team also didn't seem to care."

A moment of silence passed before Jaune spoke. "Sooo are you calling me your friend?"

Blake rolled her eyes before smiling. "Yeah. I guess I am. But don't think for a second that you're getting out of training."

Jaune groaned. He didn't think that she would forget about his training but would it hurt to slow down? But she was in charge while they were training, so he couldn't complain.

"But I suppose we can take a short break to talk about what you need to improve on." She offered.

"Why do I have a feeling that we're gonna be talking for awhile?" Jaune asked nobody in particular.

"I don't think it's as much as you think. Just some stuff you need to work on. First," Blake held up a single finger. "You need to work on your speed. You aren't always slow but you aren't always fast either. You should strive to improve your reaction time."

"Any suggestions on how to do that?" Jaune asked as he sat up with a determined expression.

"Open your eyes. Don't think too hard. There's a reason people say that you should trust your instincts and gut feelings. That's because they're usually right. I'm not saying that planning during a fight is a bad thing but you need to learn how to trust yourself, Jaune. If you don't know what to do in a fight, just let your instincts take over."

"Is that what you do?"

"Sometimes." Blake answered while shrugging her shoulders. "But it's not about what I do. It's about what you do."

"I'll try t- I mean, I'll do it."

Blake couldn't help but smirk. "Next, you should work on your basic footwork. Nobody graduates from the basics, Jaune."

"So you mean in twenty years I still have to practice the same forms over and over?" Jaune looked disgusted at the thought.

"Yeah." Blake chuckled through her nose. "I bet Pyrrha even practices the same stuff she learned when she first started to learn how to use weapons."

"I wouldn't be surprised."

"Third, you need to learn when you need to go all out and when you need to hold back a little bit. If you're training or in a fight, then you should always go all out. How can you improve or win a fight if you're only giving it forty percent? But you should hold back when you're trying a new fighting tactic so that you can look for any mistakes with it."

Jaune sighed. "Yeah. I've been told that before. But what if I hurt someone?"

Jaune looked like the thought truly bothered him deeply. Blake knew he was a not a malicious person by nature, but she didn't know that it was to the extent that he would hold back and possibly get himself hurt in a fight or while training. Most people wouldn't hold back like he seemed to do.

"You just need to learn how to relax during a fight." Blake offered her advice.

Jaune fiddled with his shoelaces as he looked down. "I don't know, Blake. I mean, Yang always looks like she's having a blast when she fight and Nora does the same thing. Even awkward little Ruby has an easier time fighting monsters than making new friends. They seem like they're having fun rather than fighting for their lives." Jaune looked at his with a somewhat humorous smile. "I bet that even you and Ren would rather be dropped in the middle of a pack of Grimm than be locked in a room with people."

Blake inclined her head to the side to indicate that Jaune's statement wasn't necessarily wrong.

"I guess what I'm saying is that I don't know if I have what it takes to be as cool as everyone else." Jaune confessed. He didn't know why he was being so forward with Blake.

"You say 'cool', I say a pack of misfits." Blake offered her opinion to Jaune. "I mean, what else would you call the eight of us? There's two sisters who don't look alike at all and one is here two years before she should be. An heiress of a corporation who's here for...some reason, I'm sure. Ren and Nora, the two who nobody knows much about. A tournament fighter who probably could've had a pretty posh life if she stuck to tournament fights. A Faunus. And of course, you. No wonder people see JNPR as RWBY's leash holder. We're all a bit too much for other Teams to handle."

Jaune scoffed. "Wow. Kinda harsh to everybody, don't you think?"

"Maybe." Blake stood up and looked down at Jaune. "But they won't mind too much, I guess. Can they really argue against it?"

"Guess not." Jaune stood up too. "Let's go again. Maybe this time I can beat you!"

Jaune pointed Crocea Mors at Blake before taking his stance. Blake wondered what the harm in humoring him a bit more could be before she took a few steps back and readied Gambol Shroud.

Instead of taking time to observe her like he usually did, Jaune charged at Blake the instant she nodded her head to indicate that she was ready. She expected Jaune to go for an overhead slash or a quick thrust like he usually did, and so when she felt Jaune's leg kick out slightly and hit her front leg and throw off her sense of balance she wasn't prepared for it. She stumbled slightly as Jaune swung his sword horizontally at her torso. Reacting on instinct, Blake grabbed Jaune's hand that clenched his sword and jumped up, slamming her knee into his chin. Luckily he didn't bite his tongue and fell back a few steps clutching his now bruised chin.

Blake knew better than to allow Jaune to regain his senses so she rushed over to him and sidestepped around him so she was facing his back. She slashed downward at Jaune's back, being careful not to actually try and cut skin, but her caution wasn't needed as Jaune whirled around and intercepted her blade with his sword.

Jaune began to deliver a series of quick strikes to drive Blake backwards, effectively putting her on the defensive. Blake gritted her teeth and leapt back leaving a shadow clone in her original position that Jaune recognized and sliced through without hesitation this time. Blake made a quick decision and mechashifted Gambol Shroud into a firearm before she fired two shots at the ground by Jaune's feet, a trick she had learned that was useful for making some opponents back off. He immediately froze and raised his sword up on instinct, as if he thought he could deflect bullets with his current speed.

 _Why didn't I think to pick up my shield when I suggested another round?_ Jaune asked himself. He chanced a glance over at where his shield was on the ground and dashed for it without a second thought.

Blake saw Jaune moving like she had never seen him move before. His legs were a blur as he sprinted for his shield.

 _I've already shot at him now, so I might as well throw something else his way._ Blake thought to herself.

With a swing of Gambol Shroud's blade, Blake sent a wave of energy at Jaune. He got to his shield and looked up just in time to see a purple arc of energy speeding toward him. Jaune held his shield up and tried to hide his whole body behind his shield before bracing himself for the impact. It surprisingly didn't pack as much force as Jaune was expecting end dissipated when it hit his shield.

"Woah." Jaune whistled as he peeked from behind his shield at Blake. "Can you teach me how to do that?! That was awesome!"

Jaune's eyes lit up as he looked at Blake with a new sense of awe.

"Maybe." Blake replied with a shrug. "But let's first try and get you to the point where you're not asking your opponent to teach you their moves." She gestured for Jaune to prepare himself again.

Jaune took his stance and felt more confident now that he had his shield. _Ok, Jaune._ He told himself. _Blake's way too fast for you to beat normally. I don't want to have to go so far as to use underhanded tricks. Maybe I should use some feints to throw her off. Yeah! That's a legitimate strategy._

He rushed at Blake and attacked with a sloppy horizontal strike at her right arm. She moved her blade to block it as expected, but Jaune abruptly stopped and spun of his feet before swinging his sword low at Blake's left leg with the flat of the blade.

Blake managed to see Jaune's attack with her incredible vision. So he was using the flat of the blade? Blake allowed a spark of amusement to pass through her mind for only a millisecond. Looks like even after all the advice she tried to give him, he still couldn't truly attack her when he thought he could win.

For what seemed like the millionth time since he began training with Blake, Jaune's jaw dropped in disbelief. As quickly as the blink of an eye, Blake had raised her leg that was about to be struck with the flat of his sword before slamming her foot down on the blade just as quickly. She had effectively pinned Jaune's sword that he still held to the floor with her foot. Jaune raised his eyes to find himself staring down the barrel of Gambol Shroud in firearm mode.

"Oh come on!" Jaune whined. "That's just not fair."

Blake lowered her weapon and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You bringing a gun to a swordfight. It's just not right."

Blake removed her foot from Jaune's sword. "You bring your own weapons in a real fight, Jaune. A big, bad Beowolf isn't gonna be considerate enough to let you call the rocket propelled lockers to get your stuff."

"Fine. I'll buy that." Jaune huffed, sheathing his sword. "But just know that if my sword had a pump-action shotgun or something built into it...I'd probably still be toast, wouldn't I?"

"Now you're getting it!" Blake smiled cockily and responded with the same tone of voice his mother used on him. The kind she reserved when he finally understood a simple concept after not understanding it for a long time. "There are some Hunters, even in this day and age, who don't use guns in their weapon designs. They're just normal tools for hunting Grimm."

Blake proceeded to exit the practice arena with Jaune on her heels. Their training session hadn't been very long but Blake still needed to get ready for the movie she was seeing with Sun...and it wouldn't hurt to catch up on some reading.

"But you gotta admit that the idea of a railgun built right into my shield is pretty cool, right?" Jaune gave a goofy grin as he patted his sheath/shield and his eyes sparkled as he envisioned it.

"Yeah it might be, Jaune." Blake responded with the same tone of voice she used when she was humoring Ruby. "It'd also be impractical since your shield would be even heavier than it is now and you'd probably have to lug around a generator on your back that weighs a ton."

Jaune's smile faded. "I just felt the dreams of hundreds of weapons engineers shattering into dust because of your cold logic."

"They'd have to realize it sooner or later. I'm just gently nudging them into realization."

"Y'know I'd hate to have to see what kind of mother you'd be in ten or fifteen years. I bet you'd laugh if your kid told you he wanted to be a superhero." Jaune told her.

"Are we still going to be in contact after so long?" Blake asked, realizing that this question was yet another test of the sort that Weiss had mentioned her family pulling.

"Sure." Jaune said with a clenched fist. "When I'm a hero I gotta remember the little people who helped me get there."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Gee I can't wait to receive an honorary mention in your autobiography. Mind if I get your autograph?"

Jaune shrugged and turned his nose up. "Be sure and talk to my publicity agent for any concerns about my autograph."

 **So it's been a loooong time since I updated the story. And for that I can only say I'm sorry. School got even harder for me after Christmas. Here's a tip for people who procrastinate, DON'T TAKE ONLINE COURSES!**

 **I also will probably not update for another few weeks because finals will be coming up soon for me and I'd really like to focus on them. But once summer rolls around I hope to get back to this story and finish it. Anyway, this chapter was a bit short but the next chapter will focus on Blake's date with Sun and hopefully serve to kick start Jaune and Blake's relationship a bit.**

 **Anyway, I can only hope that you enjoy the story!**


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